Women in the labour market in 2025
68% of women in the blue collar and temporary work sector – how is the market changing?
Women make up a significant part of the labour market, but their salaries are still lower and promotion to higher positions is more difficult. In Poland, they earn less than men in 93% of counties (Central Statistical Office, 2024), and in some sectors their share at the managerial level drops by up to half.
In 2026, the EU Pay Transparency Directive will come into force to help reduce the pay gap. This is an important step, but the law alone is not enough. Companies need to prepare for changes – from revising remuneration policies to measures to support women’s professional development.
Changes in the blue collar sector show that women are increasingly choosing technical and engineering professions. One of the factors responsible for this is the automation of processes, which makes physical barriers in technical positions gradually disappear.
Women are more and more boldly occupying the space in the area of blue collars, which for years was reserved mainly for men. In the blue collar and temporary work sectors, where LeasingTeam Group supports recruitment, women now account for 68% of all employees. However, we are observing a real revolution in the area of logistics. Just 10 years ago, it was rare for a woman to have a forklift license, for example. Today, there are warehouses where women with similar qualifications make up as much as 80% of the staff,” she says Justyna Gosk, Chief Operating Officer of LeasingTeam Group.
Salary transparency is another factor that supports the increasing participation of women in the “blue industry”. Leasing Team Group observes a significant increase in offers with explicit spreads from 10-20% in 2020 to 70% in 2024. This is a huge step towards equal pay, which makes women more likely to apply for technical or production positions.
Salary transparency – a step towards equality or a challenge for companies?
The differences in salaries at the level of specialists are smaller than at higher positions. This is confirmed by data from the SSC/BPO sector, for which LeasingTeam Group is also recruiting. The wage gap at this level is approx. 3,4%. However, the situation changes as the level of the position increases, which is discussed in more detail by Tomasz Borowiecki, Director of the Permanent Recruitment Department at LeasingTeam Group.
In some areas of the white collar sector, such as SSC/BPO, women account for up to 70% of employees, but in managerial positions their share drops to 48%. He is even lower on the boards. This is the result not only of the pay gap, but also of limited opportunities, which can often result from established beliefs and stereotypes – both on the part of men and women. Women are also more likely to face informal barriers to promotion, such as limited access to key projects or lack of mentoring support.
Salary transparency may prove to be a key tool for leveling the pay gap. If women know the salary range already at the recruitment stage, they will become more aware of how much they can and should realistically earn in a given position. Therefore, they will be able to better define their financial expectations, and this will help them build their position on the labor market.
The Pay Transparency Directive itself can expose existing inequalities and put pressure to eliminate them. Employers must be ready for the consequences: from the need to revise the remuneration policy, through possible employee turnover, to a change in the approach to promotions and talent development. Transparency is not enough if companies do not implement systemic solutions, i.e. transparent career paths, mechanisms supporting the advancement of women and educational activities that will change established patterns of thinking. Only the combination of these elements will enable greater representation of women at higher levels of the organization,” adds Tomasz Borowiecki.
IT open to change, but still dominated by men
Women’s representation in the IT sector remains low, which is confirmed by data from various sources. Flexible forms of cooperation in the industry and competence-based recruitment can give women more professional opportunities, but still too few women decide to develop in IT.
As Anita Dąbrowska, member of the board of IT LeasingTeam, admits, the reasons for this phenomenon should be sought, among others, at the level of education. Activities at the preschool stage may be crucial: introducing programming through play, adapting classes to their interests and promoting women’s success in IT. Still too few girls choose science profiles at school, which limits their future opportunities in the IT industry. According to CEC data from 2024, only 10.5% of female high school graduates decide to take the extended high school diploma in computer science, and at technical universities, women account for 44% of students, but only 16% choose majors related to new technologies (Information Processing Center, 2022).
According to the data collected by ITLT, women account for 16.1% of all people employed in IT specialist positions, which is consistent with the data of the Central Statistical Office (18.38%) and Eurostat (15.5%). We observe a greater share of women in testing and quality, business analysis and project management, i.e. in areas where analytical and communication skills are the most important. Women make up an average of 30% of the workforce there. On the other hand, in more technical specializations, such as programming, DevOps or IT architecture, their share is three times lower and amounts to an average of 5% – says Anita Dąbrowska.
Although few high school graduates choose extended computer science, the above data shows that women make up 15-18% of IT specialists. This shows that Many of them reach the industry in a different way – through programming courses, bootcamps or postgraduate studies. IT is still one of the most open industries to people who change their career path, and women who decide to take this step consciously invest in the development of new competences, often combining learning with their current work .
Not only technology – the “soft” competences of the future
The situation on the labor market means that employees have to keep up with the rapid development of the latest technologies. Women’s radar of development and building their professional value should also include such competences of the future as the ability to adapt, learn, communicate or work in a team, which are as important as hard technical skills.
Skills gaps are considered the biggest barrier to business transformation by respondents to the Future of Jobs 2025 (World Economic Forum) survey. This can also be seen on the Polish market, but it should be noted that employers today value not only hard skills related to the development of the latest technologies and AI, but also soft skills, in which even the most developed software will never replace a human. It is about cooperation, analytical thinking, resilience, flexibility and agility in action, development of leadership skills. Regular development and an open attitude focused on lifelong learning can be an advantage for women in the labor market,” she says. Iga Pazio, PR & Marketing Director LeasingTeam Group.
Equal pay policies and recruitment without prejudice
The 2024 LeasingTeam Group survey and report on ESG practices and priorities in organizations in Poland shows that:
- 73% of organizations implement equal pay policies, eliminating the pay gap between genders, races, and other groups.
- 50% of companies use bias-free recruitment processes, which fosters team diversity.
- 49% of organizations monitor and report diversity data in their workforce, which allows them to identify gaps and barriers and build a more inclusive work environment.
When implementing ESG activities, organizations should not forget about any of its components. Care for the environment, modernized procurement policies, or process optimization are crucial, but it is equally important to take care of the S-social aspect – i.e. inclusivity, equality and diversity. Although inequalities in the labour market affect many groups, women still face barriers such as wage inequality and limited access to high positions in organisations. According to the data, they hold less than 40% of managerial positions in the private sector. Women who are professionally active or want to return to the career path are more conducive to transparent and impartial employment conditions. The solution may be to introduce strategies, principles and appropriate tools of equality policy in the organization, appoint an equal treatment coordinator or introduce development support programs with the support of a coach or mentor. –Says Iga Pazio, PR & Marketing Director LeasingTeam Group.
LeasingTeam Group data show that although the situation of women on the labour market in various sectors is slowly improving, the pace of these changes is still not satisfactory for the interested parties themselves. The analysis shows that women still face barriers to access promotions and better-paid positions – they are also a minority at the highest levels of the organization, despite the growing number of educated female specialists. What actions can change this situation? These include Salary transparency, clear, measurable and binding rules for assessing competences and promotions, the possibility of remote work or flexible working hours, or support for women returning after maternity leave through reboarding.
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