Number of women in employment at record level

Women in the workplace

The number of employed women of working age has increased significantly in the past ten years: in 2024, 2 million 155 thousand people worked in the 15-64 age group as a whole, 166 thousand more than in 2014. This increased the employment rate of women of working age from 59.5 to 71.4 percent.

The similar rate for men was 78.7 percent last year, which shows a slight decline compared to the previous year. This reduced the gap between women and men to just over 7 percentage points, which largely stems from the differences in women’s social roles: they are primarily the ones who stay at home with young children for a few years, engage in home care activities, retire before the age of 65 after 40 years of employment, or do not leave the framework of household activities in the first place.

In 2024, the average gross monthly earnings of women employed full-time were 600,200 forints, which was 13.7 percent lower than the average of 695,800 forints for men. The gender wage gap, which was 15.5 percent last year, has therefore noticeably closed. The gap remains significant, but is partly due to the fact that women are overrepresented in lower-paid jobs such as caregiving, sales, and education. In addition, it is more common for women to give up their careers, at least temporarily, due to their caregiving and family responsibilities.

“Women are most often discriminated against not in terms of pay, but in situations related to having children,”

explains József Nógrádi, Trenkwalder’s director of strategic relations.