Gender pay gap—how much more do men earn than women?

8 May 2025
abstract:

Problem: Despite regulations aimed at reducing gender inequality, significant disparities in the earnings of men and women persist in the labour market. These inequities are unjust and inefficient, hindering increased female participation in the workforce, which is critically needed from both economic and demographic perspectives.

Main message: Comparing men’s and women’s average earnings does not fully reflect the extent of pay inequality in Poland. The adjusted gender pay gap—accounting for differences in education, experience, and occupation—is substantially higher. It is particularly pronounced in the private sector, among individuals aged 35–44, and in male-dominated industries. Effectively implementing the pay transparency directive could help reduce pay inequality. Companies should start preparing for it now.

keywords: Gender pay gap, women on the labour market, pay transparency
JEL codes: 
publication year: 2025
language: english
Publications category: 
publishing series: IBS Policy Paper
publication number: 01/2025
ISSN: 2451-4365
Additional information:

The authors would like to thank Jan Rutkowski for his valuable comments.
The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Institute for Structural Research. All usual disclaimers apply.

authors:

Institute for Structural Research (IBS), Warsaw School of Economics (SGH)

Institute for Structural Research

We value your privacy
Cookie settings
Some cookies are necessary for the proper operation of our site. We also encourage you to agree to the use of analytical tool cookies. They allow us to continuously improve the site. You can find more information in the Privacy Policy. More.
Customize Reject all Accept all
Cookie settings
Customize settings
"Necessary" cookies are required for the operation of the site. Consent to the other categories, will help us improve the operation of the site. Third-party companies, such as: Google, also store cookies. For more information: data use and privacy. Cookies set by Google for logged in users.
Necessary cookies are required for the proper operation of the site.
Store the data of analytical tools such as: Google Analytics.
They store data related to the ad function.
Allows user data related to advertisements to be sent to Google

There is no cookies.

Allows personalized ads to be displayed

There is no cookies.

Save settings Accept all
Cookie settings
Skip to content