Persistence of salary inequalities in Switzerland
© 2019 EPFL
In the private market, women earned on average 19.6% less than their male colleagues in 2016, according to figures published on Thursday by the Federal Statistical Office.
In the public domain, this gap amounts to 16.7%, which could represent about 7 weeks of volunteer work!
While the salary gap between men and women in the private sector had narrowed from 21.3% to 19.5% between 2012 and 2014, it increased slightly in 2016.
This inequality is explained in particular by differences in training level, number of years of service or hierarchical position. However, nearly 43% of the salary differential, or CHF 657, remains unexplained. This share was 39.1% in 2014 and 40.9% in 2012, according to the OFS in its 2016 Swiss salary structure survey.