After a decade of slow but steady improvement in women’s employment outcomes, progress towards gender equality in work was set back by at least two years across the 33 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries in an analysis by PwC.

The research showed that women’s employment losses from the Covid-19 pandemic were relatively worse than men’s. This was demonstrated by higher female unemployment rates and lower female labour market participation in 2020 across the OECD.

In 2020, the country with the highest gender pay gap was South Korea at 32%. The lowest gender pay gap was seen in Luxembourg (1%).

PwC’s research included a Women in Work Index. The Index looked at five indicators that provide information about women’s labour market outcomes, including the female rate of participation in the labour force, unemployment rates, and gender parity in pay.

The top three countries for women’s employment outcomes were New Zealand, Luxembourg and Slovenia. The UK was the biggest climber in the rankings, while Canada suffers the largest slide.

In the UK, the research noted that women from Ethnic Minority groups experience significantly worse employment outcomes than White women in the UK. They receive lower pay, and experience higher unemployment rates.

PwC stated that there are enormous economic gains to be made from accelerated progress towards gender equality in work.

“Our analysis finds that increasing women’s employment rates across the OECD (to match those of Sweden, which is a consistent top performer) could boost OECD Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by USD 6 trillion per annum. Meanwhile, closing the gender pay gap could boost women’s earnings across the OECD by USD 2 trillion per annum,” PwC stated.

PwC’s research showed that at the current pace it would take at least 63 years to closed the gender pay gap.

The research was published to coincide with International Women’s Day 2022 today.