Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2016, published 106th ILC session (2017)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Austria (Ratification: 1953)

The Committee notes the observations of the Federal Chamber of Labour (BAK), which were attached to the Government’s report.

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Gender pay gap. In its previous comments, the Committee asked the Government to provide information on the implementation of the “Gender Equality in the Labour Market” National Action Plan in narrowing the gender pay gap. The Committee notes that, according to Eurostat, even if the gender pay gap narrowed, it still remains significant and was as high as 23 per cent in 2013. The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that the government programme for 2013–14 provided for the continuation of the implementation of the “Gender Equality in the Labour Market” National Action Plan, which included measures concerning awareness raising on the advantages and disadvantages of full-time and part-time employment, income transparency, and the access of women to high-level jobs, with the aim of reducing the gender pay gap. In this regard, the Government refers to various measures adopted to reduce the structural factors contributing to the large gender pay gap, such as training courses to promote the access of women to non-traditional occupations; special assistance for those returning to work after a career break for family reasons; training courses to improve persons’ qualifications; women’s career centres to offer individual advice; the increase of childcare places, information campaigns to motivate men to take paternity leave, and the granting of a childcare subsidy in order to remove the obstacles to women working full time; as well as support for enterprises on promoting equality of opportunity for men and women. The Government also provides examples of measures adopted in the provinces in this regard. Furthermore, the Committee notes that, according to the 2015 report on the progress made in the implementation of the Council of Minister’s decision of 2011 to raise the federal quota for women’s participation to 25 per cent in the boards of enterprises in which the State has at least a 50 per cent share, women held 37 per cent of posts on the boards of 57 enterprises, 25 per cent or more in 44 enterprises, and 50 per cent or more in 24 enterprises in 2014. Only 13 enterprises were still below the 25 per cent target. While welcoming the measures taken by the Government, but considering the significant gender pay gap in 2013, the Committee requests the Government to continue to take measures to further reduce the gender pay gap, and to provide information on the results achieved and progress made. The Committee further requests the Government to provide up-to-date, comparable statistics on the remuneration of men and women, including sex-disaggregated data by industry and occupational category for the public and private sectors, so as to allow it to make an assessment of the evolution of the gender pay gap since 2013.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.