Pay Transparency in Progress

Progress in closing the gender pay gap remains painfully slow. While the gender pay gap has narrowed, full-time working women in the OECD still earn on average 90 cents to every dollar or euro earned by full-time working men, with the average pay gap in the OECD declining by only nine p.p. since the 1990s.

Against a backdrop of slow progress, the use of pay transparency tools has become an increasingly popular approach to promote pay equity. The appeal of pay transparency is intuitive. In principle, greater transparency permits and sometimes necessitates greater action on the pay gap – by supplying firms, workers and other stakeholders with important information to advocate for equal pay. Firm-level approaches are particularly important given that much of the pay gap is concentrated within firms.

This report offers the OECD’s third stocktaking report on gender pay gap reporting, pay auditing and gender-neutral job classification measures across OECD countries. It provides an in-depth overview of OECD country approaches to implementing pay transparency tools to ensure pay equity, drawn from a questionnaire distributed to OECD countries and four in-depth country case studies. The report offers actionable guidance to governments interested in implementing or reforming pay transparency tools for equal pay, keeping in mind the efficiency needs of government and the private sector.

Operationalising the principle of equal pay for equal work, and work of equal value, is a fundamental step to tackle gender pay gaps – particularly in labour markets marked by strong occupational segregation. Gender-neutral job evaluation and classification systems provide structured, objective methods to compare the value of different jobs, typically based on criteria such as skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions. Despite considerable progress, gaps remain in evaluating the value of jobs, and classifying them, in a gender-neutral way. Almost 40% (15 of 38) of OECD countries require private‑sector employers to conduct gender-neutral job evaluations, while others recommend such practices or are implementing reforms, using a range of approaches including integration into equal pay audits, collective bargaining obligations, or regulatory criteria for assessing work value. Only a small group of countries mandate gender-neutral job classification systems in the private sector, while several others recommend their use. Effective gender-neutral job classification and evaluation can support and complement the effectiveness of other pay transparency measures – not least gender pay gap reporting.

Gender pay gap reporting by firms is becoming the norm across OECD countries. Pay gap reporting – which make firms’ gender pay gap information available to a select group of stakeholders – can help narrow pay gaps, where design and implementation are done effectively. Currently 55% of OECD countries (21 of 38) mandate pay gap reporting by private sector employers – with no change since the OECD’s last stocktaking in 2023. By the end of 2026, however, it is expected that 84% of OECD countries (32 out of 38) will require private sector gender pay gap reporting, with expansion driven by the EU Pay Transparency Directive. Equal pay auditing requirements – which require employers to assess and/or address pay gaps – are also becoming more common, expected to be in place for private sector companies in 26 OECD countries by the end of 2026, up from 10 countries currently. This expansion reflects planned implementation of “joint pay assessments” as required by the Directive. Pay gap reporting and auditing systems continue to vary significantly across countries, however, with implications for their efficacy.

Features of pay gap reporting and auditing measures are in transition as well. Several OECD countries with existing private sector pay gap reporting requirements have been working to strengthen their systems, typically focussed on new evaluation; expansions in firm or worker coverage; required content in reporting; simplification and support for employers in calculating and reporting gaps; and strengthening transparency by improving visibility of results.

The share of workers covered by pay gap reporting and auditing requirements is growing but remains highly variable across countries. While requirements are being expanded across and within countries, of the 9 OECD countries that provided data on how many workers are impacted by pay gap reporting in the private sector, estimates range from around 4.4% of workers in the private sector in Canada to 68% in Belgium. In two OECD countries, Portugal and Spain, all private sector employers are covered by the reporting requirements and must document their work.

Efforts to ensure salary transparency prior to employment – for example, in job advertisements – are also starting to gain some momentum. Five OECD countries have national-level requirements for private sector companies to include starting salaries or salary ranges in job advertisements, with most such requirements implemented over the last decade. To date, evidence on efficacy remains limited, and further evaluation is needed to determine what works.

Pay transparency has become commonplace and is here to stay. Though more evidence on outcomes is needed, pay transparency tools offer strong potential for addressing longstanding gender pay gaps with relatively little government intervention. This report offers a timely overview of OECD practices in the implementation of pay transparency tools, and recommendations for governments implementing or adapting them – with an eye towards reducing gender gaps among workers and reducing administrative burden on firms. Continuous evaluation and peer learning across countries will be particularly important as most OECD countries expand and refine their pay transparency systems in the coming years.