Women caseworkers matched men’s results and earned 8 percent less a year
The gap survived after researchers compared like-for-like tasks and measured results, but it was not an hourly wage gap.
Jobseekers assigned to women and men left unemployment at similar rates. The women’s hourly pay was also almost the same, yet their annual earnings still came out lower.
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A 2026 IFAU study and its full paper followed caseworkers at the Swedish Public Employment Service between 2003 and 2014. Because jobseekers were assigned through a rotating queue, the researchers could compare women and men handling similar cases rather than assuming their workloads were equivalent.
They found minimal gender differences in productivity. Clients left unemployment at similar rates, and women handled about as many unique jobseekers per contracted hour. Hourly wages were also nearly equal. Yet women earned about 8 percent less per year.
The gap came entirely from hours. Roughly half reflected fewer contracted hours, with the rest linked to fewer hours actually supplied. The researchers also found suggestive evidence that women were less likely to hold a high-wage job title, although that promotion estimate was imprecise.
The 8 percent figure is an annual earnings gap, not an hourly wage gap or a finding of unlawful discrimination. In this study, equal output per scheduled hour did not produce equal annual earnings when access to paid hours differed, while the evidence on advancement over the study period remained suggestive rather than conclusive.
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