Gender pay gap per EU country in 2019 (except for Greece which refers to 2018); Credit: European Commission

Yesterday, on the occasion of Unequal Pay Day in the European Union (EU), Luxembourg's Minister of Equality between Women and Men, Taina Bofferding, deemed the country's efforts in closing the gender wage gap a success. 

At 1.3%, Luxembourg has the lowest wage gap between men and women in the EU. "The fact that Luxembourg is now in the lead is no coincidence, but the fruit of the sustained political efforts undertaken in recent years at all levels to reduce pay inequalities between women and men", explained Minister Bofferding.

The minister pointed out the following recent actions taken by the Luxembourg government to fight such inequalities:

  • joined the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC), led by the ILO, UN Women and the OECD;
  • made wage inequalities between men and women a criminal offence;
  • made the Logib-Lux salary self-assessment software available to companies;
  • made the use of Logib-Lux a criterion for admission to the Positive Actions programme, run by the Equality Ministry;
  • reformed and modernised the Positive Actions programme;
  • set up, within the Labour and Mines Inspectorate, a service dedicated exclusively to pay inequalities;
  • renewed its partnership with the Chamber of Employees by reissuing a practical guide for the attention of equality representatives in companies;
  • developed and widely distributed information material on equal pay.

Nevertheless, Minister Bofferding called for continued vigilance: "This good result in terms of equal pay should not prevent us from continuing our initiatives in favour of de facto equality in the labour market to, in particular, fill the shortage of women in positions of responsibility and the under-representation of men in part-time jobs”.

Unequal Pay Day was also an occasion for the OGBL trade union to express its concerns over the gender pay gap that persists in Luxembourg and beyond. The union lamented that women still earn 14.1% less than men in the EU in 2021. As such, 10 November marks the date from which women effectively start working for free until the end of the year.

In addition to supporting calls for a strengthening of rules for fair minimum wages in the EU, the OGBL reiterated its demand for a substantial increase in the social minimum wage in Luxembourg, where women will effectively begin working for free this year from 5 December.