30 Per Cent Less Wages For Women? Why Women Earn Less in the Gig Economy

8 March is International Women's Day, which aims to highlight gender equality: In 2025, women in Germany earned an average of 16 per cent less per hour than men. Dr Eliza Stenzhorn discusses the income gap between men and women in the gig economy in the latest edition of the ZEW podcast. This episode is available in German on all popular platforms, such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Deezer, as well as on the ZEW website.

In her conversation with podcast host Fabian Oppel, Stenzhorn explains, based on her own study, that the unadjusted gender wage gap in the gig economy is very high at around 30 per cent. However, this discrepancy can largely be explained: around 90 per cent of the explainable wage difference is due to differences in application behaviour, with a smaller proportion attributable to differences in formal education and specific qualifications. When these factors are taken into account statistically, the gender wage gap is reduced to less than two percent – much lower than in traditional labour markets. The way in which women and men use the platforms on which jobs are advertised is therefore highly relevant.