In Maltese business and adminstration years of experience do not account much for the small gender pay gaps that do exist. These range from just 1% difference in favour of men in the 11 to 20 years of tenure category to a 7% difference for people with 6 to 10 years of working experience. Amongst managers, technicians, sales and elementary workers, service workers and plant operators, the gender pay gaps are more evident.
There is just one occupational group where women earn slightly more than men, i.e. clerical support workers in their first years of tenure (2% more up to 5 years). In the other tenure groups the wage differences favour men, with 8 % difference the 6 to 10 years of work experience group, 5% in the 11 to 20 years of tenure group and a 8% difference after more than 20 years experience.
The largest gender pay gap (21%) in favour of men has been recorded for elementary occupations with 11 to 20 years of experience. Men earn more (12%) also with 6 to 10 years of tenure. Technicians and associate professional men earn 18% more when with 6 to 10 years of experience. Plant and machine operators and assemblers earn more than women in their early careers, with up to 22% difference in the 6 to 10 years of tenure group, but later on, after 11 to 20 years of working, men earn just 2% more than women. A large gender pay gap (18%) is found also in service and sales, where the differences between men and women are most visible for people with 6 up to 20 years of experience.
Where does the gender pay gap come from?
The gender pay gap is defined as unequal pay for work of equal value which is performed with the same skills and qualifications. This pay gap results from gender segregation attitudes and practices. These attitudes and practices reinforce the existing unequal development opportunities for men and women, as well as unjustified remuneration within occupational groups and professions. Note that the gender pay gaps portrayed below are for the analysed occupations and professions only.
Table 1. Gender pay gap for large occupational groups in Malta based on years of work experience
| Occupation | Years of work experience | Male | Female | Gender pay gap |
| Median gr wage €/hr | Median gr wage €/hr | % Difference | ||
| Managers | 0-5 | 11.26 | 9.66 | 14.21% |
| 6-10 | 12.92 | 10.43 | 19.27% | |
| 11-20 | 14.43 | 13.21 | 8.45% | |
| More than 20 | 13.98 | 13.2 | 5.58% | |
| Business and administration professionals | 0-5 | 10.61 | 10 | 5.75% |
| 6-10 | 11.79 | 11 | 6.70% | |
| 11-20 | 12.54 | 12.37 | 1.36% | |
| More than 20 | 13.26 | 12.56 | 5.28% | |
| Technicians and associate professionals | 0-5 | 8.09 | 7.42 | 8.28% |
| 6-10 | 9.72 | 7.97 | 18.00% | |
| 11-20 | 9.57 | 8.51 | 11.08% | |
| More than 20 | 10.42 | 10.08 | 3.26% | |
| Clerical support workers | 0-5 | 6.46 | 6.56 | -1.55% |
| 6-10 | 7.26 | 6.71 | 7.58% | |
| 11-20 | 7.95 | 7.54 | 5.16% | |
| More than 20 | 8.65 | 7.96 | 7.98% | |
| Service and sales workers | 0-5 | 6.21 | 5.63 | 9.34% |
| 6-10 | 7.55 | 6.17 | 18.28% | |
| 11-20 | 8.06 | 6.58 | 18.36% | |
| More than 20 | 7.84 | 7.39 | 5.74% | |
| Plant and machine operators, and assemblers | 0-5 | 6.09 | 5.33 | 12.48% |
| 6-10 | 7.41 | 5.77 | 22.13% | |
| 11-20 | 7.63 | 7.46 | 2.23% | |
| More than 20 | 8.15 | 7.58 | 6.99% | |
| Elementary occupations | 0-5 | 5.57 | 5.1 | 8.44% |
| 6-10 | 5.76 | 5.08 | 11.81% | |
| 11-20 | 6.6 | 5.19 | 21.36% | |
| More than 20 | 6.46 | 5.62 | 13.00% |
Source: 2013-2014 European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) database
The gender pay gap was obtained through a comparison of the gender-specific gross median wages and dividing the resulting difference by the male median wage. All occupational groups in the table have at least 10 observations for both male and female respondents.
What is the WITA-Gender Pay Gap project?
With Innovative Tools Against Gender Pay Gap – WITA GPG (January 2015 - December 2016) aims to make a significant contribution in reducing the large and enduring gender pay gap. It is made possible by the European Commission PROGRESS program Action Grant nr. 4000004929. One of the activities is to compare male and female wages at the level of occupational groups and release the results for publication at the national WageIndicator websites of all 28 EU-member states and Turkey, as well as dissemination though press releases.