The particularities of female employment, such as long breaks from work for family reasons affect their seniority and professional experience and consequently have a significant impact on wage differentials between the sexes. Wages also depend on other factors such as education, occupational position and required level of skills for the position. Wages clearly reflect differences between men and women in these areas.
On behalf of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office and the Federal Office for Gender Equality, regular, in-depth analyses of gender wage gaps were made (cf. publications below). According to this studies approximately 60% of the wage gap between women and men is attributable to objective factors. The remaining 40%, however, cannot be explained by the objective factors examined.
