Wage gap between genders, education levels growing

The wage gap between men and women increased again over the past two years. And the salaries of higher educated employees are rising faster than those of employees with a vocational education, according to the National Salary Survey by Intermediair and Nyenrode University.

Women up to the age of 35 earn 6.4 percent less than their male peers, up from 4.9 percent two years ago, the Volkskrant reports. Researcher Jaap van Muijen has no explanation for this gap. He suspects that young women don't negotiate as hard as young men at their first job, resulting in young men starting with a higher salary than their female peers.

The wage gap is even larger for women over the age of 35. These female employees earn 9 percent less than their male colleagues. "Many women then leave the labor market", Van Muijen said. In other words: they have children. When they return to the labor market, they are often unable to catch up .

Women often work in sectors that pay less and are also more likely to work part time. If these factors, as well as education level and work experience, are taken into account, women still earn less than men. According to Volkskrant calculations of Statistics Netherlands figures, women earn 175 euros less per month.

The wage gap between education levels also increased over the past two years, AD writes about this study. Of the employees who graduated at university level, 72 percent saw their salary increase. At HBO level that was 63 percent. 53 percent of employees with an MBO diploma got a salary increase, and 51 percent of employees who graduated at LVO level. The rest's salaries remained the same or even decreased. 

Van Muijen is surprised by this development. "There are many staff shortages at MBO level, so I expected that the salaries would at least not have been reduced."

For this study, the researchers questioned over 43 thousand employees about developments in their salaries over the past two years, among other things.