Men earned €6,350 more than women in 2019

The gender pay gap continued in 2019, as men working in Catalonia earned on average €6,350.35 more than women.

According to data published by Spain's statistics institute (INE) on Thursday, the gross salary of men was on average €28,640.25, while that of women was significantly lower: €22,289.90.

Yet, while men's wages increased 1.1% compared to 2018, women's surged 2.2%, meaning that Catalan workers saw their pay grow by 1.5% on average.

Workers in Catalonia are the fourth-highest earners in Spain, behind the Basque Country (€28,470), Madrid (€27,010) and Navarra (€26,364), and above the Spanish average, €24,009 in 2019.

Wide gap at the bottom and for best-paid employees

In February this year, the Catalan labor and social affairs department published a report saying that women earned 23% less than men in 2017, a 0.4% smaller pay gap than the year before.

Over all, the report found that half of women earned around €18,000 a year, while only 25% of men earned less than this amount.

While the gap is wide at the bottom of the scale, the same is true for the 10% best-paid employees, where women earn €38,000 or more, and men €48,000 or more.