January 10, 2020

A study conducted by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Associate Professor Jessica Pan (NUS Department of Economics) found that the adjusted gender gap in median pay has decreased from 8.8% in 2002 to 6% – or $342 a month – in 2018. However, this still means that a woman may be earning less than her male colleague of the same age and education level despite doing the same job. The researchers said that the adjusted gender pay gap could be due to factors such as firm type, job scope, parenthood, and work experience. The effect of parenthood was reaffirmed by a MOM spokesman who cited other studies that found that the cost of parenthood was a big factor in the gender pay gap. Statistics showed that married working women rather than married working men are more likely to be the ones shouldering care-giving responsibilities and housework.

Furthermore, the study found that the unadjusted gender pay gap – without removing effects of age, education, occupation, industry, and usual hours – has increased from 16% in 2002 to 16.3% in 2018. This is because higher-paying roles such as company heads, as well as software developers and analysts, are still male-dominated even though more women are now in professional, manager, executive, and technician occupations.

Read the article here.