The impact of women on the European labor market has increased significantly over the last 10 years, but more work is needed to close the wide gender gap in pay that continues to exist, a European Union report said Tuesday according to The Associated Press. A survey of 30,000 workers within the 25 EU member states as well as Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, NorwaySwitzerland and Turkey found that while the number of female bosses had risen to nearly 25 percent over the past decade, half of women workers were in the bottom third of the income scale compared with 20 percent of men. «The proportion of workers whose immediate boss is a woman has consistently increased over the last 10 years,» said the report by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. However, it added that «women are particularly underrepresented in the upper third of the income scale, across all countries.» Nations from Eastern Europe seem to have more women in managerial posts than do their western neighbors. In the 10 mostly ex-communist states that joined the EU in 2004 women represent 29 percent of managers, compared to 24 percent in the 19 old members. Occupations in Europe continue to be very gender-specific, with women making up 75 percent of jobs in education and health, while men constituted most of the jobs in the fields of construction, utilities services, transportation and communications. Only 23 percent of workers said they had an even mix of both men and women at their workplace. The report did note that men on average worked more hours per week than women, but that women worked almost twice as much as men when unpaid work, such as domestic work and child care duties, was considered. The findings are part of the European Working Conditions Survey, which was conducted by the foundation, an EU body based in Dublin, Ireland. Overall, European workers seem to be happy with their job situations. Around 80 percent said they were satisfied with the working conditions in their job, citing job security and the overall work environment as the two biggest factors. Also, workers are working less than 15 years ago, thanks in part to trend toward part-time employment. One area highlighted for improvement was information technology. Only 44 percent of workers use computers or Internet access in the course of their work. Only 30 percent of those interviewed said their employer had provided any kind of training in the last 10 years, in stark contrast to the 70 percent of those who said that their work involved learning new things.
