Women in Portugal Earned €244 a Month Less Than Men in 2024, Official Data Show
Full-time women earned EUR 243.90 less per month than men in 2024, a 14.5% gross-pay gap, according to Labour Ministry data. The gap has closed less than four points since 2017 and is widest in artistic and health and social-support work.
Women working full time in Portugal earned, on average, €243.90 a month less than men in 2024 — a gap of 14.5% in gross monthly pay that has barely narrowed over the past decade. The figures come from the latest official data compiled by the Labour Ministry's statistics office, the Direção-Geral de Coordenação e Planeamento (Directorate-General for Coordination and Planning), and they put a hard number on a disparity that persists even when men and women hold comparable jobs.
In cash terms, the average woman in full-time employment took home a gross monthly salary of €1,439.90, against €1,683.80 for the average man. Because these are base salary figures rather than total earnings including bonuses and overtime — categories where men tend to accumulate more — the true income gap over a full year is almost certainly wider than the headline 14.5%.
A gap that closes at a crawl
The data series, which the directorate has tracked since 2017, shows progress measured in fractions of a percentage point per year. Back in 2017 the gap stood at 18.2%, with women earning €1,009.30 to men's €1,233.60. Seven years and several minimum-wage increases later, the percentage gap has closed by less than four points — and the absolute euro difference has actually grown, from €224.30 to €243.90, as overall pay levels rose.
The disparity is not evenly spread. It widens sharply in artistic and cultural activities and in health and social-support work — the latter a sector that employs large numbers of women, which makes the internal pay gap especially consequential. Part of the explanation, the analysis notes, is the "motherhood penalty": women more often absorb the career interruptions and reduced hours that come with raising children, and pay for it in slower progression and lower lifetime earnings.
Portugal's gap is close to the European Union average, but the country's low wage base makes it bite harder. When the median salary is modest to begin with, a 14.5% shortfall leaves less room for savings, pension contributions or absorbing a cost-of-living shock. The persistence of the gap also sits awkwardly against Portugal's self-image as a country with high female labour-force participation and one of Europe's better records on women in senior public-sector roles.
What This Means for Expats
- It shows up in offers, not just averages. If you are a woman negotiating a Portuguese salary, the national pattern is a reason to benchmark hard against sector data rather than accepting the first number — the gap is widest in creative and care roles.
- Transparency rules are on your side. EU pay-transparency legislation is being transposed into Portuguese law, and larger employers face growing obligations to report and justify pay differences. Ask about internal pay bands during hiring.
- Factor it into household planning. For dual-income expat couples, a persistent gap affects joint pension and mortgage capacity over time — worth modelling if one partner plans career breaks for childcare.
- Context for your own bracket. These are economy-wide averages; high-skilled and English-language roles can behave differently. Use the number as a floor for questions, not a verdict on any single offer.
The slow arithmetic of the past seven years suggests the gap will not close on its own for another generation without stronger policy pressure. For readers weighing the wider pay picture, see our coverage of the government's €1,000 minimum-wage path for 2027, the Bank of Portugal's warning on wage compression, and our guide to salaries and the minimum wage in Portugal for 2026.
