A decomposition of the unadjusted gender pay gap using Structure of Earnings Survey data - Products Statistical working papers

This publication provides information on the data source, the methodology and statistical software used by Eurostat to decompose the unadjusted gender pay gap, and the results of this decomposition. The unadjusted gender pay gap combines possible differences in pay between men and women, for ‘equal work or work of equal value’, with the impact of differences in the average characteristics of men and women in the labour market. To measure the impact of differences in the average characteristics of men and women, Eurostat has used microdata from the Structure of Earnings Survey 2014. A statistical method known as the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition method was applied on this dataset to isolate the contribution of each observed characteristic to the unadjusted gender pay gap. Eurostat’s methodology and results should help data users and policy makers to better interpret the unadjusted gender pay gap.