October 24, 2022
Maríanna H. Helgadóttir, chairwoman of the Icelandic Naturalists' Association, writes:
At the BHM symposium "Let's create a society for all" held on Women's Day, the gender pay gap was discussed. Evidence emerged that a gender-segregated labor market is one of the main causes of the gender pay gap. Thus, women in traditionally female jobs can reap lower lifetime earnings than men who work in traditionally male jobs. It is therefore important that the parties to the labor market take action to combat this, and public bodies should be at the forefront of this.
When hiring for public jobs, for example in the state, the salary of employees depends on the collective agreement and the institutional agreement of the relevant institution. The collective agreement determines, among other things, which salary scale is used, sick leave and vacation entitlements are specified, as well as personal benefits. In contrast, institutional agreements determine the basic ranking of jobs in a salary scale that shows the actual salary for the job in question.
The institutional bargaining system was introduced in the last decade of the twentieth century as part of increased decentralization, where directors of institutions were given greater latitude to determine the salaries of their employees through institutional bargaining. This system has its advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage is that directors of institutions can offer salaries that are more competitive with the private market than otherwise. The disadvantages are that many jobs have no analogues in the public market and therefore there is no real competition. This includes jobs in health care, where there is a clear tendency for lower salaries than in other professions with a comparable level of education.
Another disadvantage of institutional agreements is how opaque they can be. It is difficult for outsiders to understand the actual salary structure of each job, as in many cases the total salary of employees is based on countless different factors. It is common for the basic salary of a job to be based on the basic ranking of the job, the education required for the job and job-related factors. In addition, various personal factors are added, such as education that is useful for the job, seniority, professional experience, additional pay and other salaries as well as even temporary factors in addition to overtime worked and not worked. When all is said and done, all these factors form the total salary of the job in question.
It is therefore not easy to understand salaries in the public sector. People applying for jobs with public entities should be able to see at a glance what the salary is for the job, regardless of who is doing the job.
Therefore, I believe the next step in eliminating the gender pay gap is for institutions and municipalities to publish the basic salary for the relevant job in job advertisements, regardless of which person performs the job or which union is involved.
I therefore call for public bodies and companies owned by public bodies to always publish the basic salary of a job in advertisements, and I urge the Minister of Finance and the Association of Icelandic Local Authorities to change the rules on advertising public jobs so that the basic salary of a job is always published in job advertisements.
