Female graduates in Ireland expect to earn up to 10 percent less than their male peers, according to new 2019 global talent market research by Irishjobs.ie in partnership with employer brand specialist, Universum.

The research surveyed 10,994 graduates across engineering and IT, business and economics and natural sciences, health and medicine drawn from 25 different Irish education institutions.

STEM in focus

Engineering and IT, or STEM graduates have the highest starting salary expectations amongst those surveyed, considering ‚¬35,951 per annum to be an appropriate starting salary for their skillset.

Within this, males expect a starting salary of ‚¬37,404, meanwhile females expect ‚¬33,543 per annum.   This equates to a 10 percent or ‚¬3,861 disparity between the two genders.

The research implies that the gender wage gap is actually growing rather than shrinking.   Universum’s last year’s research showed an eight percent or ‚¬2,859 disparity between wage expectations amongst the two genders, with males on average expecting a ‚¬34,363 starting salary, versus females looking for ‚¬31,504 per annum.

Business and economics

Male business and economics graduates expect six percent (‚¬2,138) higher salaries than their female counterparts.   Male graduates expect ‚¬35,564 per annum, versus ‚¬33,426.   Salary expectations continue to grow year-on-year across professions such as financial services, banking, management consulting, audit and accounting and media and advertising.   In 2018, male starting salary expectations were ‚¬32,550 and female expectations were ‚¬30,600.

Graduates of natural sciences and medicine degrees typically enter the jobs market with lower salary expectations than their peers in engineering and IT and business and economics.   2019 graduates in these fields expect an average of ‚¬34,729.

Female graduates of natural sciences expect six percent (‚¬2,273) lower salaries than their male peers compared to a pay expectation gap of two percent (‚¬544) between graduates in health and medicine.

Career Drivers

Overall, a competitive base salary ranks as one of the top five drivers for male graduates across all industries, but fails to make the top ten key motivators amongst their female peers.

Looking beyond salary expectations, Universum’s research also reflects the other motivating factors for Irish graduates, including employer reputation, advancement opportunities, people and culture and job descriptions.

When asked to rank the top drivers of career attractiveness amongst engineering and IT graduates, the most notable points of difference between the genders is that males rank (1) high future earnings, (2) innovation and (3) a friendly work environment as their top three motivators.   Meanwhile females rank (1) a friendly work environment, (2) high future earnings and (3) innovation as their top three motivating factors.

Secure employment a key motivator for females

The findings across business and economics graduates are largely the same.   Males suggest (1) high future earnings, (2) a healthy work-life balance and (3) a friendly work environment as their top three motivators.   Female business graduates, on the other hand, cite secure employment as their third biggest motivator.   Male graduates ranked this as their seventh biggest consideration

Comment  

This research comes following Universum’s recent partnership with leading Irish recruitment website, IrishJobs.ie.

Commenting on the research, Orla Moran, General Manager of IrishJobs.ie said:

“Gender pay disparity has come into particular focus in the last 24 months and despite the increased scrutiny, it is very concerning to see that the gap is actually growing rather than shrinking.  

“Universum’s 2019 research suggests this gender salary disparity is evident before graduates even enter the working world.   From day one, males immediately expect a starting salary of between six and ten percent higher than their female peers.   This is particularly apparent in STEM careers, despite the significant resources and energies currently invested in attracting more females into careers in IT and engineering.  

“Clearly, more work needs to be done to address gender pay disparities.   Critical to this is ensuring that female graduates feel educated and empowered to negotiate salaries on a par with their male peers as they embark on the first rung on the career ladder. While this responsibility doesn’t sit with any single entity, we all have a responsibility to ensure that this gap in salary expectations is shrinking, and not growing, when we revisit this data in 12 months’ time.”