Making equal pay work more effective

Abstract

In Finland, equal pay has been a central equality policy objective for decades. To advance it, legislation has been reformed, pay systems and pay surveys developed, labour market segregation addressed, family leave reformed, and four tripartite equal pay programmes implemented. The number of measures has been substantial, but the gender pay gap has narrowed slowly and the independent effect of the programmes has not been demonstrable. New research also shows that the narrowing of the pay gap is not primarily due to women continuing in the same firm and occupation outpacing men in wage growth, but to a significant extent stems from structural change related to labour market entries and exits. Equal pay work must therefore shift from general objectives towards a small number of sufficiently robust and evaluable interventions that affect labour market placement and the structure of career trajectories. (AI translation)

Publication Information

Fornaro, P., Inkeroinen, E.-L., Kauhanen, A., Kauhanen, M., Maliranta, M. & Riukula, K. (2026), Samapalkkaisuustyöstä vaikuttavampaa, Government´s research activities, Policy Brief 2026:7.