The pay gap between men and women remained virtually unchanged between 2016 and 2018, national statistics agency CBS said in its latest two-yearly report.

The CBS focused on both the civil service and private sector. It found that the pay gap among civil servants was 5% in 2016 and had gone down to 4% in 2018. However, in the private sector the difference in earnings remained 7%.

The figures were corrected for a variety of factors which impact income including experience, job level and whether full or part time.

Since 2008 the wage gap has reduced, but it is ‘very slow’, CBS chief economist Peter Hein van Mulligen said. ‘If this trend continues, it will be 25 years before we have equal pay.’