Wage gaps between women and men are a sign of social inequality in modern working societies. The narrowing of the pay gap is an indicator of progress toward equality. The indicator presented here shows the unadjusted gender pay gap. It merely puts average gross hourly earnings in relation to each other without taking their causes into account. As a result, the earnings gap is also included, which results from different factors such as career choice and employment biographies of the respective cohorts.

The federal government's goal is to reduce the earnings gap to 10 percent by 2030.

For indicators without a set baseline value given, 2030Watch uses the SDSN method to orient itself to the second worst value in the given country comparison (as of 2019).

This is an official indicator of the German Sustainability Strategy.