In 2021, 77% of women aged 25-54 without children were employed in the EU. On the other hand, women of this age with children had a lower employment rate (72%; -5 percentage points). Children in the household had the opposite impact on the employment rate of men in this age group: men without children had a lower employment rate than men with children (81% compared with 90%; +9 pp).
Comparing men and women, the gender employment gap reached 4 pp among people without children and 18 pp among those with children.
Moreover, the higher the level of education, the closer the employment rates between people aged 25-54 without and with children. Women with a low level of education recorded the largest difference with an employment rate of 54% for those without children against 46% for those with children (-8 pp.). On the other hand, employment rates were very close for women with a high level of education when comparing those without and with children (87% compared with 86%; -1 pp).