Women in care occupations earned, on average, €7,622 less than their male counterparts in 2023, according to data released on Thursday.
This gap in salaries can be partially explained by the higher proportion of men in managerial and professional positions.
That year, 50.5 per cent of men in care jobs had higher-paying roles, compared to 44.4 per cent of women.
In its release, the National Statistics Office flagged occupational hierarchies within the sector. Managerial and professional roles typically offer better compensation than service and sales-related jobs, which generally pay less. These roles include healthcare aides and teacher assistants.
During 2023, women were nearly twice as likely as men to be employed in these lower-paying positions (37.7 per cent of females versus 19.1 per cent of males).
The same information, published by the NSO, also shows that foreigners with a care job earned an annual average gross salary of €27,586 in 2023 - €2,649 less than their Maltese counterparts.
In terms of the distribution of jobs among Maltese and migrant workers, data revealed foreigners were heavily concentrated in assisting roles, with nearly half (48.8 per cent) employed as service and sales workers.
In contrast, most Maltese workers in care occupations were professionals - comprising 47.4 per cent of this group
The data published by the NSO is based on a household survey used to monitor labour market trends across the European Union known as the Labour Force Survey (LFS).
According to LFS, care work is broadly defined as activities that address the physical, psychological, and emotional needs of adults and children.
The care workforce therefore includes university professors, doctors and dentists, childcare workers and personal care workers among others.
The NSO noted that since care occupations are supported by other essential roles such as managers, technicians, and administrative staff, it considered all occupations within the human health and social work activities, and education sectors as part of the care workforce. Domestic workers are also recognised as part of this essential workforce.
Paid care work
Over the past decade, around a fifth of the Maltese workforce worked in care. The share was stable over the years - from 19.7 per cent in 2012 to 19.8 per cent in 2023.
In 2021, there was a slight increase to 21.4 per cent which may be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the same period, a consistent gap of around 22 percentage points was observed between men and women in care employment, with more women working in the sector.
In 2023, the share of women in care jobs was three times higher than that of men: 10.9 per cent of men were employed in care jobs as opposed to 32.7 per cent of women.
Throughout the year, the largest share of care jobs comprised care workers employed in the care sectors (69.8 per cent) whose occupations involved providing face-to-face service that develops the human capabilities of the care recipient.
This includes the work of doctors and nurses, early education, primary and secondary school teachers and assistants, therapists and personal care workers.
More than 22 per cent of the care workforce was made up of non-care workers in the care sectors: these workers contributed to the provision of care services and included administrative officers, cooks and cleaners.
A further 4.3 per cent of the care workforce consisted of care workers employed in other settings such as nurses working in private households
Unpaid Care Work
In 2023, 37.9 per cent of women who were not working attributed their situation to family responsibilities. This percentage was much lower for males at 1.5%.
The unequal distribution of unpaid care work also affects the hours dedicated to paid employment.
LFS data indicated that while the proportion of women in part-time work decreased from 28.5 per cent in 2014 to 18.6 per cent in 2023, it remained significantly higher than that of men, which stood at 7.1 per cent in 2023.
That same year, almost two-thirds of women were working on a part-time basis due to family or personal reasons, while only 28.4 per cent of men in part-time employment cited family commitments as the reason.
In 2023, there were 47,161 fathers and 53,378 mothers with children aged 17 or younger.
While 95.6 per cent of all fathers were employed, the share of mothers was 21.3 percentage points lower (74.3 per cent).
And while 97.1 per cent of fathers worked full-time, the share was significantly lower for mothers at 75.3 per cent.
Variations were also seen in teleworking arrangements, with slightly more than one-third of employed mothers using telework, compared to 27.6 per cent of fathers.