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The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s reports of August 2002 and September 2003 and the extensive documentation and statistical information attached.

1. The Committee notes from the implementation report on the National Plan of Action for Employment of January 2002 and the research on which the report’s findings regarding equal opportunities are based that some progress has been made in increasing women’s participation in employment due, amongst other things, to an increased offer of childcare by third persons and increasingly flexible working time and part-time work. However, the Committee is concerned that at the same time the overall gender income gap has widened. While women in full-time employment earned 29.4 per cent less than men in 1995, they earned 30.1 per cent less in 2000. Taking into account both full-time and part-time employment, women earned 31.9 per cent less than men. Women remained under-represented in higher income jobs and over-represented in low-income jobs. In addition, they were dominant in those occupational groups with increasing income disparities. On the other hand, women holding university degrees earn at no point in their careers less than 90 per cent of their male counterparts. The Committee asks the Government to continue to provide statistical information on the remuneration levels of men and women and on the measures taken to counter the negative trends regarding income disparities between men and women.

2. The Committee notes the conclusions from the abovementioned implementation report and the underlying research that measures to reconcile work and family remain a major aspect of improving remuneration levels for women, including through collective agreements and workplace agreements. It also notes that workers’ and employers’ organizations, commenting on the findings of the research reports, have underlined the need to take such measures. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on measures taken to promote working practices that better accommodate the need to reconcile work and family life and any collaboration with the social partners in this regard.

3. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes that the research project on discrimination-free job evaluation and organization was completed in 2002, and that the project has contributed to a renewed discussion in Austria on objective job evaluation and equal remuneration for work of equal value. In this context the Committee notes from the abovementioned implementation report and related research that promoting objective job evaluation is expected to have a positive impact on the remuneration levels of women. In all sectors there are enterprises in which the remuneration schemes result in remuneration disparities, yet this is not the case in others. The Committee therefore asks the Government to continue to take the necessary measures to promote the objective evaluation of jobs in accordance with Article 3 of the Convention and to keep the Committee informed in this regard.

4. The Committee notes the information contained in the 2000 report on the implementation of the Equal Treatment Act regarding equal pay cases addressed by the national equality machinery, and asks the Government to continue to provide such information in its future report. Please also continue to provide information on court cases respecting the principle of equal remuneration.