Benchmark
Germany's Female Labor Force Has Just Worked a Fifth of the Year for Free
Equal Pay Day symbolizes the gender wage gap
German Unemployment Falls
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On March 19 German women will finally start making some money.
In other words, due to the 21 percent average pay gap in 2015 between women and men in Europe's largest economy, the female part of the workforce has worked every day this year to date for free. So, if salaries were equal on an hourly basis, women would only start earning from Saturday.
A grouping of activists, political and business leaders uses this symbolic date to celebrate Equal Pay Day and call attention to the gender pay gap in Germany.
While there have been some improvements in recent years, Europe's largest economy is still lagging behind most other European countries. The euro-area average stood at 16.5 percent in 2014.