Department of Public Expenditure narrows gender pay gap to 2.6%

Male employees at the Department of Public Expenditure, NPD Delivery and Reform are paid 2.57 per cent more per hour than women employees on average, but the mean gender pay gap has narrowed from 5.71 per cent a year ago.

The department’s 2023 gender pay gap report, which analyses its payroll from July 1st, 2022, to June 23rd, 2023, found that the hourly median gender pay gap in the period was 1.56 per cent in favour of women.

The median gap refers to how much a woman employee at the midpoint of all woman hourly wages is paid compared with a male employee at the midpoint of all male hourly wages

The department said it had equal pay in place for men and women in the same grades and that its gender pay gap arose as a result of the differences in the higher number of men occupying senior roles over the course of the reporting period.

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“The Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform provides all employees with equal opportunities for recognition, career development, fairness and equity at work,” it said.

“We continue to be committed to ensuring an open and inclusive workplace. Many equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives and supports are already in place including a range of flexible working options and we will continue to work in this area.”

Women outnumber men in the department’s lower pay quartile, and also the upper middle pay quartile, while men outnumber women in its lower middle quartile and upper quartile, its report shows.

The department is among those with 250 employees or more that must calculate and publish their gender pay gaps in compliance with legislation that first applied in 2022.

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