Gender Pay Gap Persists in Belgian Student Jobs: Securex

A new analysis by Belgian HR services provider Securex reveals that a significant gender pay gap persists in Belgium’s student job market. Male student workers earn an average of €14.20 per hour gross, while female students earn €13.80 — a raw gap of €0.40 per hour, or approximately 2.9%. Even after adjusting for differences in age, employment status, and sector, a statistically significant gap of €0.29 per hour remains, with men earning €14.13 compared to €13.84 for women.

Why the Gap Matters

The findings are significant because they show that gender-based wage disparities are present from the very beginning of young people’s entry into the labor market. Student jobs are often the first work experience for many Belgians, and the existence of a pay gap at this early stage suggests that inequalities are not merely a result of career progression differences but are embedded in the structure of the labor market.

The analysis was published on June 25 via the Belga news agency and covered by La Libre Belgique. It comes at a pivotal moment, as the European Union’s Pay Transparency Directive (2023/970) is being transposed into Belgian national law.

Sectoral Segregation and the “Corrected” Gap

A key driver of the raw gap is sectoral segregation — the tendency for men and women to concentrate in different industries. Male students are more likely to work in higher-paying blue-collar sectors such as construction (€18.05/hour), cleaning and disinfection (€16.69/hour), and metallurgy (€16.31/hour), according to Securex’s broader May 2026 analysis covered by RTBF. Female students, by contrast, are more concentrated in lower-paying service and retail sectors, where hourly wages can fall as low as €11.65 in tourist attractions and €11.94 in food retail.

However, the corrected gap of €0.29 per hour — which accounts for sector, age, and employment status — isolates a portion of the wage difference that cannot be explained by observable factors. Securex noted that for the first time in 2026, a statistically significant gender pay gap was observed in the Horeca (hospitality/restaurant/cafe) sector, one of the most popular sectors for student workers.

Broader Student Job Market Context

Securex’s analysis, based on 386,985 student worker contracts from 7,653 employers, found that the average hourly wage for student workers in 2026 is €14.21, up 2.38% from 2025. Students classified as “ouvrier” (blue-collar) earn €14.91 per hour on average, €1.70 more than those classified as “employé” (white-collar), who earn €13.21. The highest-paying sectors include construction (€18.05/hour), while the lowest are tourist attractions (€11.65/hour) and food retail (€11.94/hour).

Belgium’s student job market is substantial: nearly 650,000 student workers were active in 2025, generating a total wage bill of €2.26 billion. Students can work up to 650 hours per year under favorable tax and social security conditions.

The Broader Belgian Gender Pay Gap

The findings in the student job market mirror wider national trends. According to the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men (IEFM), women in Belgium earn on average 7% less per hour than men after adjusting for working time, and 19.5% less without adjustment, as reported by HR Alert. The Securex data suggests these inequalities begin early, with student jobs serving as an early indicator of structural disparities.

Policy Relevance: EU Pay Transparency Directive

The Securex report arrives as the EU Pay Transparency Directive (2023/970) takes effect in Belgium. Adopted in May 2023, the directive requires employers to disclose salary ranges in job postings, bans questions about salary history, mandates gender pay gap reporting for larger companies, and gives workers the right to request pay information about colleagues in comparable roles. As Securex notes, companies with 250 or more employees must report on 2026 by 2027, with smaller firms following on a staggered schedule.

The EU Directive aims to address precisely the kind of disparities highlighted by the Securex analysis. If a company’s pay gap exceeds 5% without objective justification, it must draw up an action plan in cooperation with employee representatives.

What’s Next

The Securex findings raise important questions about how the new transparency rules will affect student job wages. Will mandatory reporting encourage employers to review pay structures for part-time and temporary student positions? Or will the flexibility of the student job market make enforcement challenging? As Belgium implements the directive, the student job sector will be a key test case for whether pay transparency measures can address inequalities that begin at the very start of working life.