Gender pay gap in Catalonia was 20.6% in 2019

Women in Catalonia earned an average of €500 less per month than men in 2019. That year the gender pay gap was 20.6%, according to data published by Catalonia’s Labor and Production Model Observatory. This is the lowest figure since records began in 2008 and the fifth yearly drop in a row.

Compared to 2018, the gap narrowed by 1.5 percentage points because of the minimum wage 22.3% increase. Women’s salaries rose by 3.1% as opposed to the 1.1% growth in men’s wages, reads the Catalan government report.

To make sure the gender pay gap is eradicated, Catalan business minister Roger Torrent, as well as equality and feminism minister Tània Verge, called for the Spanish government to increase minimum salaries to €1,200. On 9 February, Spain’s cabinet rose it to €1,000 in 14 monthly installments.

“There is a €498 difference, almost €6,000 per year, which affects consumption capacity, rent payment, in life which is what is the feminization of poverty is telling us,” Verge said. Despite the six points gender pay gap reduction between 2014 and 2019, Verge said it will take from 25 to 30 years to eradicate the difference.