The matter in summary: Several traditional female occupations in the public sector have experienced a significant drop in real wages since 2015. This development contributes to the fact that women in Norway continue to earn less than men. It is expected to take 40 years before the pay gap is evened out. Kindergarten employees have lost between NOK 17-18,000 in annual income from 2015 to 2022. It is likely that the salary settlement in 2023 will also be eaten up by rising prices. Norway has a high labor force participation rate among women, but many choose traditional, low-paid women’s occupations. Researchers point to structural injustice and traditional expectations as one of the reasons for the wage gap. Kindergarten employees such as Julie Nygård and Marit Dagsvik experience financial difficulties for their families and recruitment problems due to low wages. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. – It has never been a very well-paid profession. But now with all the recent price increases and the interest rate increase, I feel it personally, says Julie Nygård. Together with her colleague Marit Dagsvik, she works in Bymyra kindergarten in Tromsø. While most of the children are sleeping, they take the time to chat with news. Dagsvik and Nygård are among 100,000 employees in the childcare sector in Norway, 85,000 of whom are women, all of whom have had a real wage decrease since 2015. This is an important reason why women in Norway still earn less than men. If development continues as in recent years, it will take 40 years before men and women earn the same. This is shown by a review news has carried out based on wage statistics from Statistics Norway (SSB). Kindergarten employees among wage losers Between 2015 and 2022, kindergarten teachers, skilled workers and assistants in the kindergarten sector have had lower wage growth than the price increase in the period. On average, nursery staff have lost between NOK 17,000 and NOK 18,000 in annual purchasing power. This year, as in most previous years, the wage settlement will probably be eaten up by the price increase. Marit Kristine Dagsvik believes that the wages for kindergarten employees have always been low, and that they were happy in May when the wage settlement for 2023 came into place. – We were taken care of this spring, during the salary settlement. There was great jubilation among the trade unionists here in the kindergarten, says Dagsvik. Skilled worker at Bymyra nursery school in Tromsø, Marit Kristine Dagsvik, has for the past year fought to put salary development, among her colleagues in the nursery schools, on the agenda. Photo: Eskild Johansen / news In the wage settlement for 2023, those employed in the municipalities received a wage increase of 5.4 per cent. For the nursery staff, this resulted in a salary increase of between NOK 20,000 and 30,000. Norges Bank’s latest report on the situation in the Norwegian economy came out on 21 September. There it is established that the price increase for 2023 will probably end at 5.8 per cent. This means that Julie Nygård and Marit Dagsvik and their colleagues will probably lose several thousand kroner in purchasing power measured against the price increase in 2023. – It is bad news for us who celebrated during the salary settlement, says Dagsvik. – Young girls are taught to take more responsibility news’s review of the wage statistics shows that several of the female-dominated professions in the public sector have had a real wage decline since 2015. While the largest female occupations have had a real wage decline of 1.8 per cent, the largest male-dominated professions have increased wages by 1.6 per cent. Which in turn makes it difficult to close the wage gap. Professor Ann Therese Lotherington and Professor Kjersti Fjørtoft are gender researchers. They believe women are more collectivist, and care less about pay in career choices and negotiations. This may be one reason why wages in women’s professions are lower. Professor Kjersti Fjørtoft is a philosopher and gender researcher, while Professor Ann Therese Lotherington is a social scientist and gender researcher (left). Both work at the Center for Women’s and Gender Research at UiT – Norway’s Arctic University. Photo: Eskild Johansen / news – Young girls have been taught to take more responsibility in their families during childhood and growing up. It may also be a reason why women vote more to the left when there are elections. Parties such as Rødt, SV and Ap are parties that are considered to be more collectivist, with a greater focus on community solutions. – In that sense, it can support a claim that women choose professions to a greater extent independent of pay, says Fjørtoft. Leader of the Trade Union, Mette Nord, leads Norway’s largest trade union. The trade union organizes most trade unions in the municipal sector. Since 2015, the vast majority of people in the municipal sector have experienced a decline in real wages. Photo: William Jobling / news Reason: – A preponderance of women in the public sector The head of the Trade Union, Mette Nord, organizes the vast majority of kindergarten employees in Norway. In addition, she organizes many of the 75,000 healthcare workers in the country, 61,000 of whom are women, who have also lost purchasing power in recent years. In November, she was at a cartel conference, together with the rest of LO and the Labor Party, when news spoke to her. She says the pay equalization between women and men in Norway is going too slowly. – One of the main reasons is that there is a preponderance of women in the public sector who have part-time positions. So there is a reason, she says. Swipe to read more about the development of women’s wages: Mette Nord believes it is problematic that the typical female occupations are lagging behind in terms of wages. – It is a problem that women have a lower purchasing power than men. It is clear that it is a problem for the individual – but it will also be a structural problem for society, she believes. Although nursery staff, and most of the healthcare workers, are employed by Norwegian municipalities, she does not want to put pressure on the government to increase the municipal and health budgets, in order to facilitate a pay rise for her members. – It is the parties in working life who must negotiate wages. They are the ones who must ensure that there is a good distribution. We have a good division of labor, and we shall continue with it, says Nord. news’s calculations show that it would cost approx. NOK 1.8 billion extra in the municipal settlement for 2024 – to collect all kindergarten employees’ salary reduction from 2015. This is how news has worked with the figures: Women’s salary as a proportion of men’s salary: news has used an average income as a basis distributed among all employed women. In addition, we have converted part-time positions into so-called: full-time equivalents. In this way, we get the work effort and salary of all women. The average income for monthly salary will include shift allowance, overtime and bonuses. Calculation of real wage development: news has used official wage statistics from Statistics Norway (SSB) in selected occupations from 2015 – 2022. The real wage development is calculated based on a price increase of 22.8 per cent in the period. By deducting the price increase, real purchasing power will have to be found: How much can an annual salary in 2022 buy of goods and services compared to 2015. Wage settlement 2023: Wage settlement in 2023 is 5.4 per cent for the daycare workers, and several other female-dominated professions in public sector. The forecast for a price increase of 5.8 in 2023 is taken from Norges Bank’s latest report from August 2023. Julie Nygård and Marit Dagsvik work together in Bymyra nursery school. Photo: Eskild Johansen / news – It’s about structural injustice The gender researchers believe that there is a common perception of pay for caring tasks, which also helps to keep the pay in certain women’s occupations down. – I think we need to change the way we look at this type of caring work that these women do for society, which is the basis of the professions, says Lotherington. The researchers believe that the expectations of gender roles make men choose professions with higher wages. At the same time, other expectations for women mean that the salary level does not become as important in the choice of occupation. – Both women and men make traditional educational and professional choices. Women lose financially from it, while men do not. Women have to choose across the traditional gender roles to achieve the same as men. I believe this contributes to structural injustice between women and men, says Lotherington. – I have no need to get rich on this In Bymyra kindergarten, the children are about to wake up from their bedtime. Julie Nygård says she and her partner talk a lot about the poor pay in the profession she has chosen. She does not know if she had made the choice again, if she had shown that the wage trend would be so bad. Professional worker Julie Nygård at Bymyra kindergarten in Tromsø. Photo: Eskild Johansen / news – I have no need to get rich from this. But I feel that we who work in the nurseries must get to a level where we manage to enter the housing market, and don’t have to turn over every penny, says Nygård. Her colleague Marit Dagsvik says the salary trend is creating major problems for the nursery to recruit new colleagues. – We are in a somewhat hopeless situation. We know firsthand that there is a staff shortage. The temp agencies can no longer deliver people. We depend on people to make the wheels turn, says Dagsvik.
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40 years until women and men earn the same – news Troms and Finnmark
