Increasing the female employment rate in Slovakia to match that of Sweden could boost GDP by 7.8%, shows a PwC study

Increasing the female employment rate in Slovakia to match that of Sweden could boost GDP by 7.8%, shows a PwC study

The Czech Republic experienced the largest improvement, Estonia and Ireland recorded the biggest decline in their rankings

Iceland and Sweden retained the top two positions in the ranking for the fifth year in a row, with Slovenia again in third place. The Czech Republic experienced the biggest ranking improvement of all OECD countries, rising four places from 23^rd to 19^th, owing to small but positive improvements across all the indicators in the Index. The US saw a modest increase in its ranking from 22^nd in 2017 to 20^th position in 2018. The UK retained 17^th position of OECD countries and is second in the G7, despite improving its performance across all five indicators, as other countries are also improving. Estonia and Ireland recorded the biggest decline in their Index ranking in 2018, both falling by four positions, mainly due to a decrease in the female full-time employment rate in Estonia and a widening of the gender pay gap in Ireland.
 

Slovakia has long ranked lowest of the OECD CEE countries

Slovakia ranked 26^th of the 33 OECD countries and has had a low ranking for many years, even though it is constantly improving. The reason is that other countries are also improving, some significantly. For example, Poland has improved from 19^th to 8^th place since 2000. Slovakia performs very differently in individual indicators, but other countries have made improvements in all the indicators:

• The gender pay gap in Slovakia dropped from 22% in 2000 to 18.5% in 2018. Remuneration differences are also falling across the OECD, with an average of 18.5% in 2000 and 15% in 2018.
• The female employment rate in Slovakia increased from 63% in 2000 to 65.9% in 2018, with the highest figures in Iceland (84%) and Sweden (81%), and the lowest in Mexico (47%) and Chile (57%). The average female employment rate across the OECD has also improved, from 62.2% in 2000 to 69.8% in 2018.
• The female unemployment rate dropped significantly from 18% in 2000 to 7% in 2018, and the OECD average also dropped from 8.1% to 6.2%. In 2018, only three countries reported double-digit figures – Greece 24%, Italy 12%, and Spain 17%.
• However, the female full-time employment rate in Slovakia, in addition to Hungary and Poland, is at record levels of over 90%, which is a consequence of the development in former socialist countries and reflects insufficient employer flexibility, which results in a lower female employment rate. The OECD average is 75%. The lowest proportion of women working full time is in Holland (42%), followed by Switzerland (55%), and Japan (61%).
• The gap between male and female labour force participation is the fifth sub-indicator in PwC’s Women in Work Index. In Slovakia, this gap is 12.8%. All other V4 countries range between 13-15% in the lower half of the ranking. Finland, Switzerland, and Sweden report the smallest gap of 3.4%. The biggest gap is in Mexico (34.5%) and countries such as South Korea, Chile, Italy, and Greece have figures between 15–20%.

In 2000, Slovakia had the fourth highest representation of women in company management (22%). Only Scandinavian countries had better results – Norway 34%, Sweden 27%, and Finland 24%. However, the situation has dramatically changed in many countries over the last 18 years. In 2018, Slovakia had 24% of women in company management, but more than 15 OECD countries overtook Slovakia with higher female representation – e.g. Iceland 45%, France 41%, Norway 39%, and Sweden 37%. During the last 18 years, this percentage rose from 0.9% to 6.4% in Japan and from 1.7% to 2.3% in South Korea, which are the lowest percentages in the OECD. While Slovakia’s representation of women in company management was more than twice as high as the OECD average in 2000 (22% vs 10%), this percentage was only slightly above the OECD average in 2018 (24% vs 22%). The representation of women in company management across 20 OECD countries is rising sharply, but the situation in Slovakia remains almost unchanged.

Traditional conservative countries ranked lower than Slovakia – South Korea (33), Mexico (32), Greece (31), Chile (30), Italy (29), Spain (28), and Japan (27).
 

Notes:

1. For more information on the PwC’s Women in Work 2020 Index, please visit: www.pwc.co.uk/womeninwork
2. The Women in Work Index represents a weighted average of five indicators which assess the participation of women in the labour market and equality at work – the gender pay gap, female labour force participation, the gap between male and female labour force participation, female unemployment, and female full-time employment rate.
3. The G7 countries include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US.
4. For more information on how automation will impact jobs, please visit: https://www.pwc.co.uk/services/economics-policy/insights/the-impact-of-automation-on-jobs.html