Maltese women earn less than men from a young age and it only gets worse as they grow up

The National Statistics Office has just released its findings of a survey conducted in 2016 among young people aged between 15 and 34 and the results are an eye-opener

In Legally Blonde (2001), Reese Witherspoon plays the part of a young university law student. Women between 25 and 34 years on average earn 10% less than men despite there being more professional females
In Legally Blonde (2001), Reese Witherspoon plays the part of a young university law student. Women between 25 and 34 years on average earn 10% less than men despite there being more professional females

The difference in salary that women earn when compared to men is visible from the start of a person’s foray into the job market and it gets worse after 25, figures for young people out today show.

In its latest publication titled Young People on the Labour Market, the National Statistics Office found that the average basic salary for women aged between 15 and 24 was €621 per year less than that of their male counterparts in 2016.

The gap widened further as young people grew up. The NSO found that women earned 10% less than men between the ages of 25 and 34.

The findings show that between the ages of 25 and 34, women earned an average annual basic salary of €14,648, which is €1,755 less than what men earned.

However, explaining the difference in salaries through the level of education attained could be problematic because the survey found that women between 15 and 24 obtained higher levels of education than men. One in four young men and one in three young women obtained a high level of education in 2016.

This was carried forward into the subsequent age group, with the NSO finding that 27% of women aged between 25 and 34 were employed as professionals, as opposed to 22.3% of males.

The number of inactive persons between 15 and 24 years was four times more than in the 25 to 34 age group.

The reason for inactivity between 15 and 24 years was mostly a result of training and education (89%) whereas the majority of 25 to 34 year olds’ inactivity was a result of family and caring responsibilities (59.3%).

 The survey also found Maltese youths to be uninterested in job mobility outside the country. Between the ages of 15 and 34, the findings show that 79.9% would not consider changing their place of residence to another country both within and outside the EU for employment reasons.