Mary Harney
Question:27 Miss Harney asked the Minister for Equality and Law Reform the progress, if any, which has been established in providing accurate information as to the true differential in pay between men and women. [4506/97]
Written Answers. - Wage Differentials.
As I indicated in my reply to a previous Dáil question from Deputy Harney on 7 November 1996, a special study published in 1994 by the ESRI provided a greatly enhanced insight into the average gap between men's and women's hourly earnings generally.
The other main official source of data on male/female wage differentials is the Central Statistics Office which publishes figures regularly on the hourly earnings rates of production workers in manufacturing industry. The latest figures available, for March 196, show the average hourly rate for women in this area is nearly 74 per cent of that for men. The equivalent 1991 figures showed women's hourly rates at 69 per cent of men's. While such a trend is most welcome I am only too well aware that this data only relates to less than one fifth of all female employees.
In order to secure a more accurate picture of the male/female differential generally across the sectors I have undertaken to seek to update the ESRI 1994 report which was commissioned jointly by my Department and the Employment Equality Agency. That study found that taking all sectors into account women's hourly earnings were 80 per cent of men's and that half the 20 per cent difference is explained by differences in productivity related factors such as length of labour market experience. The unexplained gap of 10 per cent reflects a lack of knowledge on the impact of wage determination processes and probably some element of discrimination. This follow up study responds to a specific commitment in Partnership 2000 which was recently negotiated with social and community partners. My Department is currently consulting the Employment Equality Agency so that the forthcoming study can shed further light on the wage differential phenomenon.