Cost of pay gap in the EU: Women earn €3,900 less than men a year

The gender pay gap in the EU is real, and it is costly according to the numbers.

Women's gross hourly earnings are on average 11.1% less than men's per Eurostat, meaning that for every €100 a man earns in the bloc, a woman only earns €88.9.

Annualised, the gap becomes clearer as the average woman is paid almost €3,900 less than men a year in the EU according to estimates from the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), also based on Eurostat data.

That means the 92.5 million women working in the EU are collectively losing more than €358 billion a year.

"The cost of pay transparency measures are small for companies but this analysis shows that inaction by national governments will cost women workers billions in lost wages,” ETUC General Secretary Esther Lynch stated.