Skip to main content

India's gender wage gap at non-supervisory level grew by 5%, though dropped by 8% among supervisors: Report

By A Representative
In an important revelation, Monster India, claiming to the country’s “leading online career and recruitment resource with its cutting edge technology”, has said that while the supervisory gender wage gap may have dropped has last year by 8.1 percentage points (from 28.1% to 20%), at the non-supervisory level it has “grown by 5 percentage points.”
Pointing out that in 2016 the “supervisors earned 48.3% more than non-supervisors, compared to 38.5% in 2015 and 2014”, a report released by the high-profile consulting firm regrets, “Non-supervisors do not seem to profit much from the economic upswing of the country.”
Pointing out that the “hourly wages for non-supervisors rose by just INR 9.9 (4.5%)” last year, the report sees a clear-cut gap here also: “Female employees in supervisory positions experienced a rise in wages of INR 87.0 (33.5%) compared to only 1.1% for female non-supervisors.”
Pointing towards a “two-fold” trend, the report, titled, Monster Salary Index 2016: Gender pay report- Ready reckoner”, says, “The gender pay gap at supervisory level has dropped from 2015 to 2016 by 8.1 percentage points”, but “contrary to this, the gap at non-supervisory level has grown by 5 percentage points between 2015 and 2016.”
Calculating hourly wages, the report, which is based data from the Indian market, examines eight different urban-based sectors, but does not looks into such sectors like agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, electricity, gas and water supply.
The data from the Indian market analysed in this report are classified into eight different sectors: Legal and market consultancy, business activities; Information and Communication Technology (ICT); Health Care, Caring services, Social work; Education and Research; Financial Services, Banking, Insurance; Transport, Logistics, Communication; Construction and Technical Consultancy; Manufacturing.
“As the analysed data was gathered online, it has some specific characteristics, such as the sectoral structure of collected observations”, the report notes, adding, “The majority of observations comes from these three sectors: Financial services, banking, insurance (23%), Manufacturing (22%), and ICT (18%).”
The report says, “The analysis presented in this report is based on the WageIndicator dataset covering the period of 3 years, from January 2014 to December 2016”, adding, “This report provides a comparison of wage and working conditions figures for three periods: calendar year 2014, calendar year 2015 and calendar year 2016.”
“The wage analysis is based on data collected from paycheck.in, Salary Calculator and Monster Salary Index from the aforementioned periods. The sample used for the analysis consists of 20,350 respondents, approximately 85.02% of which are men and 14.98% women”, the report says.
“The sample contains only employees; wages of self-employed people are excluded. Employees from different age groups, industries, and various hierarchical positions in their respective occupations are included in the sample”, the report says.
WageIndicator and Paycheck India regularly survey and evaluate the Indian market. Set up as an online volunteer survey, the data primarily stems from those people with access to the internet and who are interested in completing the questionnaire. Due to this limitation, the data mainly covers India’s formal sector.

Comments

TRENDING

'Threat to farmers’ rights': New seeds Bill sparks fears of rising corporate control

By Bharat Dogra  As debate intensifies over a new seeds bill, groups working on farmers’ seed rights, seed sovereignty and rural self-reliance have raised serious concerns about the proposed legislation. To understand these anxieties, it is important to recognise a global trend: growing control of the seed sector by a handful of multinational companies. This trend risks extending corporate dominance across food and farming systems, jeopardising the livelihoods and rights of small farmers and raising serious ecological and health concerns. The pending bill must be assessed within this broader context.

Stands 'exposed': Cavalier attitude towards rushed construction of Char Dham project

By Bharat Dogra*  The nation heaved a big sigh of relief when the 41 workers trapped in the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel (Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand) were finally rescued on November 28 after a 17-day rescue effort. All those involved in the rescue effort deserve a big thanks of the entire country. The government deserves appreciation for providing all-round support.

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat*  As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

Pairing not with law but with perpetrators: Pavlovian response to lynchings in India

By Vikash Narain Rai* Lynch-law owes its name to James Lynch, the legendary Warden of Galway, Ireland, who tried, condemned and executed his own son in 1493 for defrauding and killing strangers. But, today, what kind of a person will justify the lynching for any reason whatsoever? Will perhaps resemble the proverbial ‘wrong man to meet at wrong road at night!’

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

Jayanthi Natarajan "never stood by tribals' rights" in MNC Vedanta's move to mine Niyamigiri Hills in Odisha

By A Representative The Odisha Chapter of the Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD), which played a vital role in the struggle for the enactment of historic Forest Rights Act, 2006 has blamed former Union environment minister Jaynaynthi Natarjan for failing to play any vital role to defend the tribals' rights in the forest areas during her tenure under the former UPA government. Countering her recent statement that she rejected environmental clearance to Vendanta, the top UK-based NMC, despite tremendous pressure from her colleagues in Cabinet and huge criticism from industry, and the claim that her decision was “upheld by the Supreme Court”, the CSD said this is simply not true, and actually she "disrespected" FRA.

Delhi Jal Board under fire as CAG finds 55% groundwater unfit for consumption

By A Representative   A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India audit report tabled in the Delhi Legislative Assembly on 7 January 2026 has revealed alarming lapses in the quality and safety of drinking water supplied by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), raising serious public health concerns for residents of the capital. 

UP tribal woman human rights defender Sokalo released on bail

By  A  Representative After almost five months in jail, Adivasi human rights defender and forest worker Sokalo Gond has been finally released on bail.Despite being granted bail on October 4, technical and procedural issues kept Sokalo behind bars until November 1. The Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), which are backing Sokalo, called it a "major victory." Sokalo's release follows the earlier releases of Kismatiya and Sukhdev Gond in September. "All three forest workers and human rights defenders were illegally incarcerated under false charges, in what is the State's way of punishing those who are active in their fight for the proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act (2006)", said a CJP statement.

New RTI draft rules inspired by citizen-unfriendly, overtly bureaucratic approach

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Department of Personnel and Training , Government of India has invited comments on a new set of Draft Rules (available in English only) to implement The Right to Information Act, 2005 . The RTI Rules were last amended in 2012 after a long period of consultation with various stakeholders. The Government’s move to put the draft RTI Rules out for people’s comments and suggestions for change is a welcome continuation of the tradition of public consultation. Positive aspects of the Draft RTI Rules While 60-65% of the Draft RTI Rules repeat the content of the 2012 RTI Rules, some new aspects deserve appreciation as they clarify the manner of implementation of key provisions of the RTI Act. These are: Provisions for dealing with non-compliance of the orders and directives of the Central Information Commission (CIC) by public authorities- this was missing in the 2012 RTI Rules. Non-compliance is increasingly becoming a major problem- two of my non-compliance cases are...