Gender employment gap on decline in EU

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - The gender employment gap slipped to 11.5 percentage points in 2017, from 12.2 percentage points in 2012, the EU's statistical office reported on Thursday.

"In 2017, the employment rate of women aged 20-64 (66.5 percent) was 11.5 percentage points lower than that of men aged 20-64 (78 percent) in the EU," Eurostat said.

The gender employment gap was lowest in Lithuania with 1 percentage points. It was followed by Finland (3.5 percentage points), Sweden (4 percentage points) and Latvia (4.3 percentage points).

On the other hand, the largest employment gap between men and women was observed in Malta (24.1 percentage points), followed by Italy (19.8 percentage points) and Greece (19.7 percentage points).

Between 2012 and 2017, the largest decreases in the employment gap between men and women were recorded in Malta, falling 7.3 percentage points.

"However, the gender employment gap rose over this period in 11 EU Member States.

"The highest increase was recorded in Hungary (+4.2 percentage points), followed by Ireland (+3.5 percentage points) and Bulgaria (+2.4 percentage points)." during the five year period, Eurostat added.