Statistics and indicators on women and men

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Table 5.G - Women's wages relative to men's
 
Women's wages in manufacturing
 
as a percentage of men's wages
   
Country or area
1990
1995/2002
Africa
Botswana
..
52a
Egypt                          
68
71  
Eritrea
..
66  
Kenya                          
73
123   
Swaziland                      
73
63b
Zambia                         
73
..  
Latin America
Brazil                         
54
61  
Costa Rica                     
74
83  
El Salvador                    
94
79  
Mexico                         
50
70  
Panama
..
93  
Paraguay                       
66
44  
Asia
Bahrain
62
44c
Bangladesh                     
49
..  
Cyprus                         
58
54d
China,  Hong Kong SAR                       
69
64  
China,  Macao SAR                           
67
54  
Georgia
..
61  
Iran (Islamic Rep. of)
..
78  
Jordan                         
57
58  
Kazakstan
..
79  
Malaysia                       
49
63  
Myanmar
106
112   
Occcupied Palestinian Territory e
..
49  
Philippines
..
80  
Republic of Korea            
50
56d  
Singapore                      
55
61  
Sri Lanka                      
88
87  
Thailand                       
64
72  
Turkey                         
81
97  
Developed regions
Australia                      
82
89f
Austria                        
..
68  
Belgium                        
75
79  
Bulgaria
..
68  
Czech Republic
..
65  
Denmark                        
85
86  
Finland                        
77
81g 
France                         
79
78  
Germany         
73
74  
Greece                         
78
82  
Hungary                        
70
71g
Ireland                        
69
74  
Italy                          
83
..  
Japan                          
41
59c
Latvia
84
83  
Lithuania
..
77g
Luxembourg                     
62
72  
Malta
..
88  
Netherlands                    
77
78  
New Zealand                    
74
80g  
Norway                         
86
88g  
Portugal                       
69
65  
Spain                          
72
..  
Sweden                         
89
91c  
Switzerland                    
68
72   
United Kingdom h                 
68
78 i  
United States                  
68
..  

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Source:

Prepared by the Statistics Division of the United Nations Secretariat from ILO, Yearbook of Labour Statistics
(Geneva, various years up to 2003), Table 5B.

Footnotes:
   
a Citizens only.
b Skilled wage earners.
c Private sector.
d Including family allowances and the value of payments in kind.
e West Bank and Gaza Strip only.
f Full-time adult non-managerial employees.
g Full-time employees.
h Excluding Northern Ireland.
i Excluding overtime payments.


Technical notes:

The indicator presented in this table is the ratio of female wages to male wages in manufacturing, expressed as a percentage. The statistics of wages from which the ratio is computed are, in general, average earnings per wage-earner (regardless of age) or in some cases wage rates. The data on average earnings are usually derived from payroll data supplied by a sample of establishments often also furnishing data on hours of work and on employment. In a few cases, average earnings are compiled from social insurance statistics.

International comparisons of wage ratios presented here must be made with great caution. As indicated above, the coverage, definitions and methods of compiling wage statistics differ significantly from country to country. Disaggregation of statistics by sex is available for only a few countries and may be based on a narrow segment of the population. Furthermore, earnings are very much dependent on the number of hours worked, and where female workers generally work a much smaller number of hours than male workers, this factor must be kept in mind when interpreting the wage ratio.