site.btaMen's Average Hourly Pay in Bulgaria 12.6% Higher Than Women's in 2022

In 2022, the average hourly pay of men was 12.6% higher than that of women, according to National Statistical Institute (NSI) data published on its Facebook page on Tuesday.

The largest difference in favour of men in hourly pay was in the finance and insurance sector at 30.2%. In the human healthcare and social work sector, men's average hourly earnings were 24% higher than women's, in culture, sport and entertainment they were 20.8% higher.

In the administrative and ancillary activities and construction sectors, hourly wages for women are higher than for men by 20% and 16.1% respectively. 

The latest European data from 2021 show that the most pronounced gender pay gap is observed in Estonia (20.5%), Austria (18.8%) and Switzerland (17.7%), while the most equal are employees in Luxembourg, Romania and Slovenia, with - 0.2%, 3.6% and 3.8% deviations, respectively. Bulgaria ranks in the middle with a 12.2% pay gap. The data was presented by Tatiana Dobreva, a consultant in Mercer's Bulgaria team, in connection with the European Parliament's directive on strengthening the implementation of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms.