Women in Germany continue to earn significantly less than men, with the latest figures confirming that the gender pay gap has shown no improvement. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the gap remained unchanged in 2025, a sign that progress on wage equality has stalled after showing some movement in previous years.
The unadjusted gender pay gap, which accounts for differences in occupation, working hours, and employment type, held steady at 16 percent in 2025. This means women earned, on average, 16 percent less per hour than men. The adjusted gender pay gap, which compares men and women in equivalent roles with similar qualifications, also remained unchanged at six percent. This figure is particularly significant as it reflects direct wage discrimination, the pay difference that cannot be explained by structural factors alone.
A broader measure of labour market inequality, the Gender Gap Arbeitsmarkt, which factors in hourly wages, monthly working hours, and overall employment participation, also stagnated at 37 percent, reversing a downward trend recorded in 2024.
A key driver of the unadjusted pay gap is the higher rate of part-time work among women. In 2025, men worked an average of just over 34 hours per week across all employment types, while women worked just under 28 hours, 18 percent less paid working time overall.
Bettina Kohlrausch, Scientific Director of the Economic and Social Science Institute of the Hans Böckler Foundation, stressed that this difference is not a matter of personal choice. Women spend one hour and 19 minutes more per day on unpaid care work than men, she noted, the result of an unequal distribution of care responsibilities between the sexes, not individual lifestyle decisions.
Kohlrausch also highlighted that the adjusted gap of six percent demonstrates that women continue to face direct wage discrimination in the labour market. She called for the rapid implementation of the EU Pay Transparency Directive to improve visibility of pay structures and strengthen legal enforcement against wage discrimination.
Differences in employment participation between men and women also contribute to overall wage inequality. Figures from 2024 show that just under 74 percent of women were in paid employment, compared to around 81 percent of men. The Gender Employment Gap narrowed by one percentage point compared to the previous year, falling to eight percent.
Regional figures reveal a sharp divide between eastern and western German states. The Gender Gap Arbeitsmarkt stood at just 22 percent in eastern states in 2025, compared to 39 percent in the west, a gap of 17 percentage points. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern recorded the lowest level of wage inequality among all federal states at 17 percent, followed by Saxony-Anhalt at 20 percent. At the other end of the scale, Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria recorded the highest levels at 41 percent each, with Hesse, Lower Saxony, and Saarland each at 40 percent.
The east-west divide is largely rooted in historical differences in female employment. Women in eastern states have traditionally had higher rates of workforce participation and are more likely to work full-time, reducing the gender pay gap, the hours gap, and the employment gap compared to their western counterparts.
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