Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2000, publiée 89ème session CIT (2001)

The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s report as well as the supplementary documentation provided. It also notes the comments of the Swedish Agency for Government Employers and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO).

1.  The Committee notes that, according to data provided by Statistics Sweden (SCB), existing differences between men’s and women’s earnings have not diminished in the 1990s. The report indicates that women’s earnings in 1997 averaged 83 per cent of men’s. Pay differentials were greater in the public sector than in the private sector. The wage gap was largest in county councils, where women’s pay was 71 per cent of men’s. In the private sector, the pay of female salaried employees was 75 per cent of men’s pay. The wage gap was narrower for manual workers in the private sector, where women’s pay was 89 per cent of men’s. The Government attributes the pay differentials in general to differences in training, occupation and position. The Government states that pay differentials in individual sectors are partly due to the different occupations in which women and men are concentrated, for example, in the county councils, where the majority of nurses are women and the majority of doctors are men. The Committee notes that, according to the SCB, when allowance is made for training, occupation and age, female salaried employees in the private sector earned 93 per cent of men’s pay. However, the Government indicates that the pay differential for women and men in the same occupation varies from one sector to another, with women’s pay equalling 78-79 per cent of men’s pay among business economists, sales staff and brokers. Thus, the Government states that there are some pay differentials which cannot be attributed to factors such as training, occupation or age.

2.  The Committee notes from the report that the frame funding system, introduced in 1993-94, required national authorities to give an account of efforts made to chart and eliminate unfair pay differentials between women and men. The Government indicates that its analysis of the pay policies of national authorities shows women to have a consistently lower average rate of pay than men. Further, the Government states that women have consistently received smaller pay increases than men. The Government indicates that this is due in part to the fact that higher-level employees, a category in which women are under-represented, tend to receive bigger pay increases. In this respect, the Swedish Agency for Government Employers, which provides support for wage setting in the national administration, states that the annual statistics which it compiles on the earnings of salaried staff of the national administration show that women’s average pay improvements between 1998 and 1999 were higher than men’s, particularly at the senior levels.

3.  The LO indicates that there is a high level of gender equality in Sweden, with Swedish women being equally represented in decision-making bodies and in the workplace. The LO attributes existing pay inequalities to gender-based occupational segregation in the labour market, noting that women mainly work in the public and commercial sectors, where wages are lower. The LO recommends that measures be taken to reduce or eliminate gender divisions in the labour market as well as to increase women’s access to training that would permit them to advance in their employment. The LO does not feel that direct salary discrimination is frequent and considers that individual cases are immediately corrected when identified.

4.  The Swedish Agency for Government Employers indicates that the central collective bargaining parties in the national government sector have, for some years, been in agreement that pay equality is a priority issue, and the parties at both the central and local levels of the administration have been active in working towards achieving pay equality. In this respect, the Agency indicates that it has produced a computer program for wage mapping, to assist national authorities to avoid unequitable wage differentials between men and women. The Committee would appreciate receiving additional information regarding the nature of the program, the manner of its implementation and the results achieved.

5.  The Committee notes the various measures taken by the Government to reduce pay differentials between women and men. It notes that the National Institute for Working Life, in association with the SCB, has begun work on developing pay statistics to serve as a basis for a more in-depth analysis of pay differentials between women and men. The Committee further notes that the SCB is exploring the feasibility of an individually based occupational register, designed to enhance the comparability of different jobs in connection with analyses of gender-based pay differentials. Noting that pay differentials can be effectively reduced through a combination of measures, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would continue to provide information on all initiatives taken or contemplated relevant to application of the principle of equal remuneration and to indicate progress made in this regard.

6. The Committee is addressing a request directly to the Government on other points.