ILO working on study to map gender wage gap in India via detailed analysis | Economy & Policy News

The quantitative analysis will use publicly available databases and government statistics, including the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) and enterprise surveys, to assess differences in earnings between men and women and identify the factors contributing to the gap.

These include differences in educational qualifications, work experience and occupational hierarchy, which can explain part of the wage disparity. However, average wage comparisons may not capture differences arising from gender-based discrimination, including how women’s work is classified and valued, the people said.

The qualitative analysis will seek to examine these less visible forms of disparity and map the unexplained component of the wage gap.

“There is the wage disparity due to differences in education, experience and designation. This is the ‘observable gap’ that can be explained. However, there is also general discrimination based on gender, leading to unexplained wage disparities. For example — a woman who works in a hotel may be designated as a ‘cook’, while a man with similar qualifications and tasks may be named a ‘chef’ and paid more. We are trying to analyse this unexplained gap as well,” an ILO official told Business Standard, requesting anonymity.

An email sent to the ILO remained unanswered till press time.

The ILO’s analysis shows that the global gender wage gap narrowed from 22 per cent in 2016 to 20 per cent in 2026, one of the people cited above said. An ILO report released last week also showed that women employees in India earn about 28 per cent less per hour than men. This was the fourth-widest gender wage gap among the 23 Asia-Pacific economies covered by the report, after Tonga (about 64 per cent), South Korea (about 41 per cent) and Vanuatu (about 29 per cent).

The study will also review maternity benefits and other government initiatives aimed at improving women’s employment and participation in the workforce. This will include examining how such measures have addressed barriers to women’s employment and earnings.

The ILO study comes amid efforts to improve women’s participation in India’s workforce and expand their access to gainful employment. While female labour force participation has increased in recent years, concerns remain over the quality of jobs available to women, wage disparities and their limited representation in higher-paying occupations and leadership positions.

Preliminary work on the report suggests that southern states perform relatively better than northern states in terms of the gender wage gap. Higher educational attainment and historically more progressive social norms partly explain this difference, the people said.

By combining statistical analysis with qualitative research, the ILO study is expected to examine not just the scale of the wage gap but also the social and workplace practices that sustain it.

The findings could help identify areas where policy interventions need to go beyond improving women’s access to education and employment and address discrimination in job allocation, designations and pay.

The ILO is also looking to collaborate with a national external collaborator to support the preparation of the India report, the people said.

The assignment will involve reviewing national and state-level policies and programmes, synthesising evidence on gender pay disparities and conducting stakeholder consultations to inform policy recommendations for reducing the wage gap.