Annex A. OECD questionnaire on gender wage mapping and other pay reporting systems for equal pay
The following questionnaire was distributed in February-March 2021 to gender, labour, and/or social ministries in every OECD country in order to take stock of gender wage mapping and pay transparency measures explicitly aimed at promoting equal pay between women and men. The results of this questionnaire have been used to inform the present report on pay transparency tools. The information will later be used to fulfil the reporting requirements of the 2013 OECD Recommendation of the Council on Gender Equality in Education, Employment and Entrepreneurship and the 2015 OECD Recommendation of the Council on Gender Equality in Public Life.
The following instructions were shared with Delegates:
This questionnaire requests information on the following public methods promoting equal pay in your country:
D. The role of social partners and collective bargaining in equal pay
E. Gender-neutral job evaluation systems and defining the concept of “work of equal value”
I. Other recent government policies to address explicitly the gender wage gap
If your country does have measures in place in the aforementioned categories, we ask that you provide further details by completing that section of the questionnaire. To note:
Please repeat policy details if you have more than one policy per broad category (A-G). Please enter information in the questionnaire below (by copying and completing the relevant sections for each relevant policy) or by attaching additional documents.
Please include both private sector and public sector regulations in your responses. In some countries, for example, pay transparency measures may only apply in the public sector.
Whenever possible, please provide links to public websites or reports detailing the relevant measure.
Feel free to expand text boxes or attach additional documents as needed.
If your country does not have any measures in place in a specific policy area (measures A-G) for the public or private sector, you should advance to the subsequent section using the hyperlinks within the document to complete it for the sector(s) missing these policies.
A similar version of this questionnaire was sent by the European Commission to European researchers in 2016 and resulted in the report “Pay Transparency in the EU”. For some countries, the policy information requested in this questionnaire may therefore require simply an update and elaboration from the earlier report.
Contact person name, email address and phone number:
This refers to the right of an employee, or an actor on their behalf (such as a trade union), to request information on the pay levels of other employees by gender from their employer. This may include requests for individual pay levels and aggregate pay levels at the sector, company, or establishment level.
1. Does your country require employees be offered the right to obtain information on pay levels of other employees within private companies, enterprises or organisations? Yes/No
2. Does your country require employees be offered the right to obtain information on pay levels of other employees within the public sector? Yes/No
If the answer to Questions 1 AND/OR 2 is YES, please proceed to Question 3.
If the answer to Question 1 AND/OR 2 is NO, please proceed to Question 11 to discuss the relevant sector(s) without policies in place.
Please repeat the following section, as needed, if more than one policy exists across sectors.
3. Is the right to this pay information laid down in law, collective agreements, or otherwise?
5. Are there any prior requirements set for making a request? Yes/No. If yes, please explain:
b. Are there penalties for non-compliance? If yes, what are they? E.g. financial penalties, publicly naming violating firms, etc.
c. If there are penalties for non-compliance, how often are they enforced? E.g., what share of violations are actually fined in the case where financial penalties are in place?
d. If there are no penalties for non-compliance, are there alternative ways to have access to information on pay levels? E.g. are there incentives for compliance?
e. Does release of pay information require the consent of another employee? Yes/No
f. Does this information need to remain confidential, and if so, to what degree? Yes/No
6. Can other actors obtain information on behalf of the employees? Yes/No
7. What information can be obtained?
a. Pay level information at sector, company, establishment, or individual (i.e. concerning a co-worker) level?
b. Information on average pay levels by gender of employees at the company generally?
c. Information on median pay levels by gender of employees at the company generally?
d. Information on average pay levels by gender of employees performing the same work?
e. Information on median pay levels by gender of employees performing the same work?
f. Information on pay levels by gender of employees performing work of equal value (including different but comparable jobs)?
g. Information on the number of employees by gender in a certain job category/class to establish whether it is male or female dominated work?
h. Information on average pay levels in different job categories/classes representing work of equal value, not broken down by gender? (This is to assess whether there is an average pay differential between comparable male dominated and female dominated jobs/job categories)
j. What constitutes ‘pay’ when information can be obtained either on an individual or a collective basis?
k. Is there a right to obtain, or is there in any other way access to, additional information on the general wage structure applied by the employer, including:
Salary scales indicating basic fixed salary per month per job class
Procedures for ranking specific jobs into this wage structure
General guidelines, procedures and/or requirements for entitlement to variable or complementary
Pay components (e.g. allowances for overtime, irregular hours, heavy work, qualifications, seniority, labour market shortages, bonuses for outstanding work, productivity etc)?
8. Is it illegal for employees to disclose voluntarily their wage to other employees (e.g. pay secrecy laws)? Yes/No
9. Where there is a right to information, how effective do you deem this right, on a scale of “very ineffective” to “very effective”?
10. What are (possible) obstacles to this right functioning well in practise? Please elaborate on the main barriers to the effective functioning of this right in practice. E.g. non-disclosure contract clauses, privacy and data protection legislation, issue awareness, political priorities, administrative/economic constraints, social norms.
If the answer to Question 1 OR 2 was NO, please answer the following questions for relevant sectors (e.g., answer Question 11-12 if no policies are in place in private sector):
11. Where there is no right of employees to obtain pay information, are measures expected in the near future? If so, when? Please specify the relevant sector (public or private).
12. What are (possible) obstacles for not having a right to information on pay levels? Please elaborate the main barriers to the effective functioning of this right in practice. E.g. non-disclosure contract clauses, privacy and data protection legislation, issue awareness, political priorities, administrative/economic constraints, social norms.
This refers to measures that require or incentivise employers to report to employees, trade unions, government bodies, or other social partners remuneration by employee category/position/level by gender.
13. Is there a legal obligation or any other measure (e.g. an incentive) in place to ensure that employers regularly report (including to employees, workers’ representatives, social partners, or a government body) the average or median remuneration of men and women at company level in private companies, enterprises or organisations? Yes/No
14. Is there a legal obligation or any other measure (e.g. an incentive) in place to ensure that employers regularly report (including to employees, workers’ representatives, social partners, or a government body) the average or median remuneration of men and women in the public sector? Yes/No
If the answer to Questions 13 AND/OR 14 is YES, please proceed to Question 15.
If the answer to Questions 13 AND/OR 14 is NO, please proceed to Question 24 to discuss the relevant sector(s) without policies in place.
Please repeat the following section, as needed, if more than one policy exists across sectors.
15. Is the reporting duty laid down in law, collective agreements, or otherwise? Yes/No
16. How specific does the reporting concerning the average or median remuneration of male and female employees have to be? E.g. are averages or medians according to gender reported for the whole company, per establishment, per type of employee, per job position, per more general job categories and/or per salary class applied?
17. Is the reporting duty limited to companies of a certain size? If yes, what size? Yes/No
19. What is the time interval of the duty to report? Yearly, other?
20. Is the duty to report enforceable? Yes/No
b. Are there penalties for non-compliance? If yes, what are they? E.g. financial penalties, publicly naming violating firms, etc.
c. If there are penalties for non-compliance, how often are they enforced? E.g., what share of violations are actually fined in the case where financial penalties are in place?
d. If there are no penalties for non-compliance, are there alternative ways to access information on pay levels? Are there any incentives for compliance?
22. Where there is a requirement to report, how effective do you deem this requirement on a scale of “very ineffective” to “very effective”?
23. What are (possible) obstacles to the proper functioning of this reporting requirement? Please elaborate on the main barriers to the effective functioning of this right in practice. E.g. privacy and data protection legislation, issue awareness, political priorities, administrative/economic constraints, social norms.
If the answers to Questions 13 AND 14 are NO, please answer the following questions for relevant sectors (e.g., answer Question 24-25 if no policies in place in private sector):
24. Where there is no reporting duty or incentive, are measures expected in the near future? If so, when? Please specific the relevant sector (public or private). Yes/No
25. What are (possible) obstacles to the proper functioning of this reporting requirement? Please elaborate the main barriers to the effective functioning of this right in practice. E.g. privacy and data protection legislation, issue awareness, political priorities, administrative/economic constraints, social norms.
This section refers to measures that require or incentivise organisations to undertake gender pay audits. This includes analyses of gender pay gaps, gender composition of job positions/levels/categories and job evaluation and classification systems.
26. Is there a legal obligation or any other measure or incentive for employers to conduct pay audits within private companies, enterprises or organisations? Yes/No
27. Is there a legal obligation or any other measure or incentive for employers to conduct pay audits in the public sector? Yes/No
If the answer to Questions 26 AND/OR 27 is YES, please proceed to Question 28.
If the answer to Questions 26 AND/OR 27 is NO, please proceed to Question 39 to discuss the relevant sector(s) without policies in place.
Please repeat the following section, as needed, if more than one policy exists across sectors.
28. Are pay audits conducted in workplaces obligatory by law? Yes/No. If yes:
b. Are there penalties for non-compliance? If yes, what are they? E.g. financial penalties, publicly naming violating firms, etc.
c. If there are penalties for non-compliance, how often are they enforced? E.g., what share of violations are actually fined in the case where financial penalties are in place?
d. If there are no penalties for non-compliance, are there incentives for compliance?
29. Who bears the responsibility for conducting pay audits? E.g. Employer, social partners, external bodies such as government regulators.
32. Regarding the form of pay audits, what kind of information is gathered? E.g. Pay differentials, wage structures, job evaluation plans, the applicable company pay regulations on basic pay, additional allowances, bonuses, occupational pensions, etc.
33. What kind of analysis is conducted on the pay gap?
a. Does this include average (and/or median) pay gaps by gender? (Please specify.)
b. Does this include gender pay gaps for work of equal value (including different but comparable jobs)?
c. Does this include gender-neutral job evaluation and/or classification systems?
d. Does this include possible (in)direct discriminatory criteria applied in the general wage structure/wage regulation?
e. Is a method of statistical analysis applied (e.g. whether pay differentials found are statistically “significant”)?
34. Is the analysis required in pay audits done by (internal or external) pay and/or gender experts, or by general staff of the employer?
35. Is there a legal obligation for pay audits to be followed up with recommendations to the employer and/or social partners? In practice, how regularly does this happen, and in what form?
36. Are audits part of more comprehensive gender equality action plans?
37. How effective do you find the obligation or incentive for pay audits to be in practice, on a scale of “very ineffective” to “very effective”?
38. What are (possible) obstacles to the proper functioning of this auditing requirement? Please elaborate on the main barriers to the effective functioning of this requirement in practice. E.g., privacy and data protection legislation, issue awareness, political priorities, administrative/economic constraints, social norms.
Please move to Section: The role of social partners and collective bargaining in equal pay.
If the answer to Questions 26 and/or 27 is NO, please answer the following questions for relevant sectors (e.g., answer Question 39-40 if no policies in place in private sector):
39. Where there is no audit requirement or incentive, are measures expected in the near future? If so, when? Please specify the relevant sector (public or private). Yes/No
40. What are (possible) obstacles to the proper functioning of this reporting requirement? Please elaborate the main barriers to the effective functioning of this right in practice. E.g. privacy and data protection legislation, issue awareness, political priorities, administrative/economic constraints, social norms.
This refers to measures to ensure that issues of equal pay are discussed during collective bargaining.
41. Are there legal obligations or other measures (such as incentives) introduced to ensure that the issue of equal pay, including pay audits, is part of the collective bargaining process in private companies, enterprises and organisations? Yes/No
42. Are there legal obligations or other measures (such as incentives) introduced to ensure that the issue of equal pay, including pay audits, is part of the collective bargaining process in the public sector? Yes/No
If the answer to Questions 41 AND/OR Question 42 is YES, please proceed to Question 43.
If the answer to Question 41 AND/OR 42 is NO, please proceed to Question 52 to discuss the relevant sector(s) without policies in place.
Please repeat the following section, as needed, if more than one policy exists across sectors.
43. What measures are taken to ensure that the issue of equal pay, including pay audits, is part of the collective bargaining process at the appropriate level?
44. At what level of collective bargaining do these measures take place? E.g. company, sector, intersectoral?
45. Do measures focus on including specific aspects of equal pay in the collective bargaining process? E.g. introduction of gender-neutral wage structures in collective agreements; introduction of gender-neutral job evaluation systems in collective agreements; conducting pay audits or taking account of pay audits conducted; otherwise furthering transparency of wage systems.
46. Are measures ensuring the inclusion of equal pay as part of the collective bargaining process enforceable? Yes/No
b. Are there penalties for non-compliance? If so, what are they? E.g. financial penalties, publicly naming violating firms, etc.
c. If there are penalties for non-compliance, how often are they enforced? E.g., what share of violations are actually fined in the case where financial penalties are in place?
d. If there are no penalties for non-compliance, are there incentives for these discussions to take place?
47. Did one or more social partners initiate any action in respect to further pay transparency and equal pay? If so, was it part of a collective agreement or otherwise? Please provide examples.
48. How elaborate are collective labour agreements in your country, generally, with respect to wage setting (i.e., how strictly do they fix wages)? How much flexibility is left for individual employers, bound to collective agreements, to set individual wages?
49. Is job evaluation generally used to set fixed basic salary (scales) for comparable job positions or categories as part of the collective bargaining process?
50. How effective do you find the obligation or incentive for the inclusion of gender equal pay in collective bargaining to be in practice, on a scale of “very ineffective” to “very effective”?
51. What are (possible) obstacles to the proper functioning of this auditing requirement? Please elaborate main barriers to the effective functioning of this requirement in practice. E.g., privacy and data protection legislation, issue awareness, political priorities, administrative/economic constraints, social norms.
If the answer to Questions 41 and 42 are NO, please answer the following questions for relevant sectors (e.g., answer Question 52-53) if no policies are in place in private sector:
52. Where there is no requirement or incentive for social partners, are measures expected in the near future? If so, when? Please specify the relevant sector (public or private). Yes/No
53. What are (possible) obstacles to the proper functioning of a requirement or incentive for social partners? Please elaborate the main barriers to the effective functioning of this right in practice. E.g. privacy and data protection legislation, issue awareness, political priorities, administrative/economic constraints, social norms.
This refers to (gender-neutral) job comparison systems that determine the value of job classes within an organization. A gender-neutral job comparison system seeks to capture accurately the content of skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions of a given job class.
Please repeat the following section, as needed, if more than one policy exists.
54. Are gender-neutral job evaluation systems and definitions of work of equal value based on national law and/or case law? If so, please elaborate and cite.
55. Following national law and/or case law, should “work of equal value” – as part of an equal pay claim – be assessed and compared based on objective criteria, such as education, professional and training requirements, skills, effort and responsibility, work undertaken and the nature of tasks involved?
56. Are there any recent noteworthy developments in national law or case law regarding a (more) explicit definition of “work of equal value”?
57. Generally speaking, are formal job evaluation and classification systems used in order to set wages for particular job positions or categories common in your country in the private and/or public sector?
58. Are there recent (legislative) developments regarding the introduction of the requirement for companies to establish (gender-neutral) job evaluation and classification systems?
59. Even if not required by law, to what extent do companies establish gender-neutral job evaluation and classification systems on a voluntary basis?
This refers to any other government policies aimed at promoting pay transparency to promote gender equality in the public or private sectors that have not been addressed previously in this questionnaire.
60. Have any other legislative or non-legislative pay transparency measures aimed at promoting gender equality been taken at the national level that cannot be subsumed under the above measures of A-E? If so, please describe them.
61. To what degree are statistics and administrative data concerning pay transparency, by gender, available at the national level? Please explain what is available and provide a reference.
62. To what degree do the aforementioned data dissemination tools include information on race, ethnicity, or national origin of the workers in question? Please explain what is available and provide a reference.
63. Has a national impact assessment been carried out in the preparatory stage of proposing pay transparency legislation? If so, please provide a reference. Please also provide a reference to other relevant research assessing impacts of national measures already in place, if available.
64. Has the government carried out any public service or awareness-raising campaign – aimed at employers, workers, and/or the public – to promote “buy in” for wage transparency measures? If so, please provide a description, links to such campaigns, and any impact evaluations of them.
65. Please add any important information on pay transparency in your country that could not be provided clearly under the previous questions.
This refers to voluntary pay transparency measures taken by the private sector, independent of the policies (A-F) mentioned above. Please repeat this section as necessary to illustrate different examples.
68. Of the aforementioned measures (A-G), have there been governmental, academic, or private sector studies evaluating their effectiveness in terms of implementation? This may refer to companies’ rate of compliance with pay reporting or auditing measures, the frequency/ease of right to obtain pay information requests, evaluations of the awareness of such measures, and so on. Please include links to these studies or include these studies as attachments.
69. Of the aforementioned measures, have there been governmental or academic studies evaluating the programmes’ effects on wages and/or other labour force outcomes?
Governments have a range of tools, other than pay transparency measures, to address the gender wage gap. Please identify relevant measures that have not been described previously in the questionnaire.
Please repeat the following section, as needed, if more than one policy exists.
70. What concrete measures, other than those outlined above, has your country put in place to combat gender discrimination explicitly in pay, recruitment, training, and promotion? E.g. anti-discrimination legislation, positive discrimination (for example in hiring), etc.
a. What is the name of the policy? Please provide links to any websites detailing the policy
d. Are there any evaluations of this policy? Please provide links or attachment evaluations, if available
e. How effective do you find this policy to be in practice, on a scale of “very ineffective” to “very effective”?
f. What are (possible) obstacles to the proper functioning of this policy? Please elaborate on the main barriers to the effective functioning of this requirement in practice.