Women have a 16 percent lower pay than men on average, and when it comes to the same job position, the margin is smaller, 8% in favour of men, the Moj Posao job search portal reported on Tuesday.

The average salary, earned by men in 2022 was €1,100 net, while the average salary for women was €923.

The difference in salary increases with work experience.

However, there is also a wage gap between age groups.

The smallest differences are present among the youngest respondents, those under the age of 24 and those with less than a year of experience – the difference in salaries increases the most at the time when women take a break from their careers to start a family, according to the portal, referring to the Moja Placa (my salary) website.

During this time, their male counterparts continue to gain experience, get promoted and get pay rises.

Women do not make up for this difference later but remain paid less until the end of their working life.

However, this difference decreases towards the end of their career.

Broken down by region, the biggest differences between women and men are present in Medjimurje County (-20%) and Split-Dalmatia County (-20%), while the smallest are in Pozega-Slavonia (-7%) and Virovitica-Podravina (-4%) counties.

The smaller company, the smaller gap

The smallest pay gap (-10%) was registered in the smallest companies with up to 10 employees, while the largest (-16%) was found in companies with over 250 employees.

Private companies register larger margins than state companies when it comes to pay for men and women.

In foreign-owned private companies, women are paid 19% less than men, while in domestic companies they are paid 15% less.

In state-owned companies, women are paid 8% less and in public service or local self-government its (-10%).

The portal singles out discrimination, different job preferences, gender difference (starting a family) and that women tend to ask for less money during job interviews, as well as when negotiating a raise, as reasons for the gender pay gap.