Analyzing the gender gap in European labour markets at the Nuts -1 level

In the labour market framework, gender inequalities penalizing women in participation, remuneration and career still persist almost everywhere, even though there are remarkable differences between countries. At the EU level, in many cases, the levels of these gaps also vary within the same country. According to human capital theory, labour market outcomes should be strongly influenced by the worker’s educational level. However, the gender gap endures even in countries where women have surpassed men in education. In this paper, both the aspects of spatial differences (in accordance with the NUTs 1 districts) and the impact of education on the gender gap in the labour market are analysed. With this aim, the composite indicator methodology (including sensitivity analysis involving bootstrap techniques) has been used. The results highlight the substantial stability of the gap in education within the same country but a strong variability in the gap in the labour market outcomes within some countries. Adapting national policies to different regional frameworks could be an efficacious strategy for closing the gap.