EU Enacts Salary Transparency Directive to Reduce Gender Pay Gap

The European Union's 2023 Salary Transparency Directive seeks to promote equal pay and gender equality by obliging companies with at least 150 employees to disclose wage information in job advertisements or before interviews and to report internal gender pay gaps. Workers may request average salary data and are entitled to compensation for discrimination, while the burden of proof shifts to employers in pay‑discrimination cases. Penalties are imposed on firms that fail to comply.

Implementation has been uneven: the directive is fully in force only in Italy, Malta, Slovakia and Lithuania. Other member states—including Germany, France and Denmark—have postponed transposition or are still drafting legislation, leaving the EU-wide rollout fragmented.

The rule aims to make pay expectations clear for job seekers, address the 11 % wage gap between women and men reported by Eurostat, and ultimately narrow the 25 % pension disparity.