Comparison of Levels of Wage Concentration Within the Groupof Women Workers and the Group of Male Workers Accordingto Their Personal, Work, and Company Characteristics

Below is the analysis of the situation within the group of women and within the group of men in terms of the concentration of their salaries. If we look at the age groups, we see that the most concerning group, with the highest annual wage concentration indexes, is that of men aged 60 or older who in 2010 reached a Gini index of 0.42. This age range is also a concern for women, who show an index of 0.39 (see Tables 2.6 and 2.7).

Among women, it is especially worrying that all age groups have increased their wage inequalities in annual terms, reaching values of around 0.35 for ages between 40 and 60 years, although in terms of salary/hour the trend is decreasing over the whole period. On the other hand, men have lower rates of inequality within their group than women within their group, in general terms. However, as well as the older group of workers mentioned above, younger people have also seen an increase in inequality, by 0.17 in the last eight years, up to 0.37.

In the grouping by level of studies, which in principle should reduce the wage concentration, the concentration of salaries has increased in annual terms among women without schooling or with a low level of education to a much greater extent than among men, with more than 5 tenths of difference between them (values around 0.25-0.26 for men and 0.30-0.33 for women with little schooling). In addition, the group of men with the highest level of education shows the highest wage concentration.

Looking closer at the male directors and managers, we see a growing tendency in the wage concentration among them, greater than that among women. Of particular concern is the observation that inequality among women in low-skilled jobs continues to increase in annual salaries (although it is acceptable in terms of salary/hour).

Note-. Compiled by the authors from INE (2008,2012,2016) microdata.

The wage concentration among men holding positions of responsibility in the company is higher than among women at the beginning of the period, although now they have reached similar values, close to 0.31, having been reduced in recent years in both population groups. However, it is among

TABLE 2.7

Male Gini Index Evolution in Spain for Gross Annual Wage per Worker and Wage per Hour per Worker (2006-2014)

Note: Compiled by the authors from INE (2008,2012, 2016) microdata.

women who do not hold positions of responsibility where inequality is currently greater in terms of the salary received over the whole year.

If we look at the size of the company, we note that women in smaller companies have increased their annual wage concentration, reaching a Gini index of 0.35 compared to 0.32 among men. In the rest of the companies, women also show more wage inequality than men, although in the larger companies there is a decreasing trend in both groups in recent years.

A concern is the growing wage concentration observed among women workers in private companies, which reaches 0.35, compared to a more moderate 0.32 observed among male wages. The same applies to companies that depend on a regulatory agreement on sectoral labor relations, where inequalities among women are greater than those among men.