The union study indicates that the female unemployment rate in the Community exceeds that of men by 5.23 points
UGT in the Region of Murcia presented this Wednesday the report on labor inequality between men and women in the Region. According to data from the union organization, the average annual earnings of women in 2019 (19,431.25 euros) is 4,858.16 euros away from the average annual earnings of men (24,289.41 euros). In addition, the female unemployment rate in the Community exceeds that of men by 5.23 points.
The report entitled ‘Shortening the path in the fight against gender inequality in the world of work’ calculates that the unemployment rate for women exceeds that of men by 5.23 points, a gap that has been widening since 2013 and is 1.57 points higher than the national. While the pay gap between women and men is 20%, according to the latest 2019 assessments of the union. This document has been made public within the framework of the 8M.
unemployment data
In absolute terms, in the Region of Murcia there are 7,200 more unemployed women than unemployed men. Therefore, the female activity rate is 14.8 points lower than the male rate in 2021. These data indicate that “it barely drops” two tenths compared to 2020, so the Region of Murcia has “the highest rate” recorded by an Autonomous Community in Spain, according to the union’s report.
On the other hand, women make up 59.7% of the inactive population in Spain in 2021. However, the greatest presence of inactive women is found among the population in charge of household chores, while men are located in retirement and pre-retirement. In this sector, the percentage of inactive women for dedicating themselves to housework grew to account for 88.7% of the people who declared themselves inactive for this reason.
With all these data, the report concludes that the female employed population is still much lower than the male population, since in 2021 there were 91,925 fewer employed women than employed men. It is for this reason that the union report places the Region of Murcia with the employment rate gap in 2021 at 15.75 points -the second highest by communities- and shows a growing trend since 2013, remaining around 16 percentage points in the last seven years.
By sectors
UGT calculates that, as of January 31, 2022, of the total number of workers included in ERTE, women represent 52%. In addition, it points out that the occupational segregation of women persists, who are concentrated in three branches of activity, mainly: health, education and other services.
On the contrary, the most significant rates of female under-representation occur in Construction, Agriculture and industrial activities as a whole, where employed women barely represent 8.04%, 23.53% and 28.5% , respectively. However, the report includes, they improve their presence in these sectors in relation to 2020.
Part-time employment and temporary employment are “very important” factors in precariousness and gender inequality. In this sense, 76.9% of part-time employment is female and the temporary rate of female employees is seven points higher than that of male employees. In this way, they specify from UGT, both percentages of female representation in partiality and temporality grow with respect to 2020, suggesting that the recovery of female employment occurs at the cost of increasing its precariousness.
work permits
On the other hand, the authors of the report point out that it improves co-responsibility in leave for birth, adoption or foster care, and in unpaid leave, although it maintains “overwhelmingly unfavorable” records for women in the latter.
In 2021, 43.5% of applications for the childbirth and care benefit corresponded to the first parent (usually the mother) and 56.8% to the second parent (usually the father). for the care of minors and other family members, women continue to be the vast majority: in 2021, 79.5% of these leaves of absence were requested by women.
Conclusions
Faced with this scenario, from UGT in the Region of Murcia they demand to promote collective bargaining of equality measures and plans, in addition to providing them with public resources that contribute to the fulfillment of this objective.
In addition, they demand new increases in the Interprofessional Minimum Wage (SMI), increase the levels of social protection in care tasks, eliminate gender inequalities and promote co-responsibility in reconciling work, family and personal life.
The trade union organization called for the adoption of measures aimed at achieving equal representation in decision-making bodies in the different political, social, scientific and cultural structures. As well as increasing active employment policies and the permanence of women in the labor market, combating sexual and gender-based harassment in the workplace through prevention, detection and action protocols.
Finally, UGT emphasizes continuing to advance in the ‘Social Dialogue’ and in modifying the damaging aspects of the 2012 labor reform, especially those that so negatively affect female workers in our country, as well as extending the gender perspective in policies of all spheres.