Men are earning more in almost all companies as first reports of gender pay gaps emerge

The highest average hourly wage differentials in favor of men were in the administration of construction giant CRH, headed by Albert Manifold, and the law firm of Mason, Hayes and Curran (including partners).

In a total of 10 companies, including the travel platform Airbnb, the insurer VHI, the digital security provider Cisco and the biscuit manufacturer Jacobs, the wage gap was over 20 percent.

At seven companies, including a branch of SuperValu-owner Musgraves, Google’s cloud services division, electronics retailer Curry’s, Swedish clothing giant H&M and An Post, women received on average (average) more than men.

The average bonus gap was 18.2 percent in favor of men.

In the median – which measures the mean between the highest and lowest salaries – the average gap of the companies that have reported so far is 9.4 percent in favor of men.

The data shows that in most Irish companies there are more men than women at the top of the pay scale, which affects bonus allocation as it tends to be paid to higher-ranking employees.

“Until now, the highest wage gap in favor of men was 59 percent [CRH Group Services]and the highest wage gap in favor of women is 27 percent [Google Cloud]’ said Mr Cookley.

“The companies with the biggest gaps are construction companies, law firms, banks and financial institutions, and companies with many engineering or technology functions.

“There are no surprises there. But I think it also shows a lot of societal and structural elements. Companies alone will not overcome these challenges.”

The gender pay gap is different from wage discrimination – paying men and women differently for the same work – which is illegal.

Around 660 Irish-based companies – those with more than 250 employees – are due this month to report on the disparity in average wages and bonuses of their Irish workforce and gender representation in the pay scales. Smaller companies must report from 2024.

Consulting giant PwC, which released its report yesterday, found a 0.9 percent gap in favor of men, which rose to 13 percent when partners were included.

This “reflects the fact that there are more male than female partners in the firm,” PwC said. The number of partners who own part of the business is around 130 in PwC’s Irish workforce compared to more than 3,000 employees on the payroll.

Previous analysis by the Irish Independent found an average pay gap of 16 per cent for Irish companies operating in the UK in 2021.

A Sunday independent The study found a 12 percent gap in a sample of 20 companies, mostly technology companies, that have reported on their Irish operations to date.

Meanwhile, the number of people whose full-time job is “homework” has fallen by a third since the pandemic, CSO data shows, while slightly more women work full-time and slightly fewer part-time.