Key facts
- Most EU member states missed the June deadline to implement the Pay Transparency Directive.
- Only four EU countries fully transposed the directive into national law by the deadline.
- The directive mandates employers to disclose pay ranges, report gender pay gaps, and cease asking about candidates' pay history.
- The EU's gender pay gap was 11.1 percent in 2024.
- The directive aims to address inequalities affecting various worker groups beyond gender.
Most European Union member states failed to meet the June deadline for transposing the Pay Transparency Directive into national law, with only a handful fully implementing the new regulations. The directive, which entered into force on June 7, 2026, aims to close the gender pay gap and expose broader inequalities affecting millions of workers.
Under the directive, employers are required to disclose pay ranges before hiring, report on gender pay gaps, and take corrective action when these gaps exceed 5 percent without justification. The European Commission has stated that delays hinder both competitiveness and the fight for gender equality, warning that infringement proceedings can be initiated against non-compliant countries.
While the directive's legal framework is built around comparing women and men, the data it generates could potentially be used to identify disparities related to age, migration status, disability, and race. However, the extent to which these broader inequalities are exposed depends on member states' reporting requirements and the political will to analyze the data beyond gender.
Eurostat data from 2024 shows that women's average gross hourly earnings across the EU were 11.1 percent below men's, a gap that has remained largely unchanged over the past decade. The directive seeks to shift the burden of proof in discrimination cases onto employers and ensure workers know potential pay before applying for a role.