Wage gap? Dutch women under 30 earn more than men

The wage gap between men and women in the Netherlands is decreasing, mostly due to an increasing level of education among women, according to Statistics Netherlands. Young women in the country now earn more on average than young men.

According to the Statistics Office, this goes hand in hand with the fact that on average young women are better educated than young men. Women under the age of 36 that work for the government earn more on average than their male counterparts. In the industry, women under the age of 30 earn more than their male peers.

As the ages increase, men earn more than women. Among older workers, the level of education is higher among men than women.

The Statistics Netherlands figures show that in 2008 women earned an average of 16 percent left than men working in the government. In 2014 that decreased to 10 percent. In the industry women earned 22 percent less in 2008 and 20 percent less in 2014.

According to Statistics Netherlands, this gap differences in wages can be attributed to different levels of education, experience and the fact more women work part time and thereby miss out on carreer opportunities.

If all the above mentioned factors are taken into account, women in government still earned 5 percent less than men in 2014 and women in the industry 7 percent.