Swiss gender pay gap reaches a new low

Women earned 15.7% less than men in 2024, the narrowest economy-wide gap recorded in Switzerland’s latest wage figures. The Federal Statistical Office compared gross monthly wages standardised to a full-time workload across the private and public sectors. The result marks a further reduction from 16.2% in 2022, continuing a decline from 19.0% in 2018 and 18.0% in 2020.

The improvement matters because the headline figure covers the full labour market, including differences in occupation, industry, seniority and employment conditions. Men and women remain unevenly represented in higher-paid roles and sectors, and pay gaps generally grow with seniority. The figure therefore captures both unequal representation and differences in pay within comparable labour-market groups.

The latest data also show the limits of the progress. A 15.7% average gap means women’s total earnings remain significantly below men’s, even after the long-term decline. The FSO’s analysis separates the part associated with recorded characteristics from a residual difference that those characteristics do not explain. That residual fell as well, reaching 6.5% in 2024, down from 7.0% in 2022. In monthly terms, it represented about CHF 640 on average.

The private-sector gap stood at 17.2% in 2024, only slightly below the 17.5% recorded in 2022. The national average conceals sharp differences between industries, where job structures, occupational hierarchies and working conditions vary considerably.

Hotels and restaurants recorded the smallest private-sector gap listed in the figures, at 7.9%. Retail stood at 16.9%, while machinery manufacturing reached 17.2%. Financial and insurance activities recorded the widest gap, at 30.6%. These differences do not establish why women and men are paid differently in each industry, but they show how strongly the composition of the workforce and the distribution of roles shape national results.

The public sector posted a clearer decline. Across the federal government, cantons and municipalities, the gap fell to 12.8% in 2024, compared with 13.8% in 2022, 15.1% in 2020 and 18.1% in 2018. Public employers operate under formal salary systems, yet differences in occupations, promotion and seniority continue to affect the average. The figures provide a national benchmark, while the underlying causes still require scrutiny within individual employers and sectors.

The unexplained difference fell to 6.5%, but the FSO warns that the residual cannot be read as a direct measure of discrimination. The calculation removes recorded differences in factors such as education, tenure, occupation and industry. It does not capture every feature of a job or every influence on an employee’s pay.

Unmeasured or imperfectly measured factors can include individual productivity, precise responsibilities, language skills, further training, management experience, bargaining behaviour and the demands of a specific role. Statistical assumptions and model design also affect the result. The remaining gap may therefore include discriminatory treatment, alongside differences the available data cannot fully describe.

Company size produces another clear divide. In firms with fewer than 20 employees, the unexplained gap reached 8.6% in 2024, up slightly from 8.4% in 2022. In companies with at least 1,000 employees, it fell to 5.8%, from 6.8%. Larger organisations may have more formal salary structures and stronger reporting systems, although the figures do not prove that size alone caused the difference. They do show that the experience of pay equality varies substantially depending on where people work.

Senior managers faced an unexplained gap of 12.4%, nearly twice the 6.1% recorded among employees without management responsibilities. The senior-management figure also rose from 10.6% in 2022, showing that the overall improvement did not reach every level of the hierarchy equally.

Age and marital status reveal a similar pattern. Among workers under 30, the unexplained gap was 2.2%, compared with 8.3% among employees over 50. The difference was 2.7% for unmarried employees and 8.1% for married employees. These patterns are consistent with the cumulative effects of career breaks, reduced working hours, slower promotion and occupational moves made to accommodate family responsibilities.

Motherhood may be one factor. A study cited in the source material found a 3.7% motherhood gap. That evidence does not mean every difference affecting mothers is unlawful discrimination. Swiss law prohibits paying a woman less simply because she is a mother. Career interruptions, reduced experience or a move into a lower-paid job with more manageable hours can also affect earnings without proving illegal treatment. The statistics identify where disparities widen, while employment histories are needed to explain individual cases.

Education produced some of the smallest differences, but no single measure removed the gap. Among employees with a degree from a university of applied sciences or a teacher-training college, the unexplained difference was 3.8%, the lowest reported for an education group. Among employees who had completed vocational training, it was 6.6%.

The figures point to a Swiss labour market where educational pathways, sector choice and promotion interact. Vocational training remains a major route into employment, while universities of applied sciences and teacher-training colleges prepare workers for distinct professional roles. Comparing groups by education can clarify patterns, but it cannot settle whether differences arise from occupational sorting, employer decisions, career histories or unequal treatment.

Switzerland’s new low therefore marks measurable progress, not the disappearance of the issue. Employers, cantonal authorities and national statisticians have different roles. Companies can examine pay by role, seniority and workload. Public authorities can maintain consistent measurement. Researchers can improve the data on career breaks, job responsibilities and family patterns. The next national result will matter less as a single headline than as evidence of whether the residual gap continues to fall, especially in senior roles and among older workers.