The dynamic of the gender gap in the European labour market in the years of economic crisis

Closing the gender gap in the labour market is one of the main goals of European Union and part of a wider effort to eliminate social inequalities. In recent decades, all developed countries have suffered a deep global economic crisis, that has increased social and economic inequalities. In Europe, the crisis involved problems of European stability and growth, but the crisis did not affect the euro-area countries to the same extent, and the consequences and recovery were correspondingly asymmetrical. In this paper, we analyse the changes that occurred in the gender gap in the European labour markets from 2007 to 2012 to understand if the recession has further increased or reduced the gender differentials. At this aim, we combine the use of two different statistical methodologies. Through the composite indicator methodology, we test how the rank of countries in relation to gender equality has changed in these years. In addition, the Dynamic Factor Analysis allows us to identify the factors that drive these changes. Moreover, the contextual analysis of the measures that were utilized to face the crisis could give policy makers some useful suggestions on the most efficacious actions to take.