Gender wage gap barely moves in Switzerland

Women continue to earn less than male counterparts despite efforts to reduce the gap. © Keystone / Dominik Baur

Women earn on average 11% less than men for doing the same job in Switzerland, according to the latest official survey of wages.

On Monday, the Federal Statistical Office reportedExternal link that the gender wage gap is narrowing, but only slowly. In 2016, there was a 12% disparity in wages, which fell to 11.5% in 2018 and 10.8% in 2020.

The gap is more pronounced among the higher earning strata of the workforce. Female managers earn 16.8% less than male counterparts but the difference is 9.3% among jobs with less responsibility.

Switzerland has introduced legislation aimed at eroding discrimination, including the requirement of larger companies to report wage levels for male and female staff every four years.

Last year, the government adopted a wide-ranging set of policies to improve conditions for women, called the National Strategy for Gender Equality.

Bankers to hairdressers

The data published on Monday reveals that in 2020, the median monthly wage across Switzerland was CHF6,665 ($7,161) irrespective of gender.

People working in banks were the biggest earners, taking home CHF10,211 per month, compared to the CHF4,211 earned by hairdressers.

The difference in earnings between the highest and lowest paid workers has remained constant in the last few years, the figures show.

Between 2018 and 2020, the wages of the highest paid employees rose by 11.8% and low-income earners saw a 11.6% increase.