2025 Global Compensation Pay Report: Women Scoring Big Paydays, but Men Still Landing Most Plum Jobs
The 2025 global compensation landscape reveals a complex picture of progress and persistent disparities, with women making significant strides in securing high-paying roles but men continuing to dominate the most coveted, high-level positions. Drawing from reports like Payscale’s 2025 Gender Pay Gap Report and WTW’s Salary Budget Planning Report, alongside insights from industry sources, this article examines the state of pay equity, job distribution, and emerging trends shaping compensation in 2025.
Women’s Pay Gains: Closing the Gap, but Not Fully
Payscale’s 2025 Gender Pay Gap Report highlights incremental progress in narrowing the gender pay gap. The controlled gender pay gap, which measures equal pay for equal work by comparing men and women in similar roles with comparable qualifications, stands at $0.99 for every dollar earned by men, unchanged from 2024. This near-parity suggests that when women secure roles equivalent to men’s, their pay is nearly equitable. However, the uncontrolled gender pay gap, which reflects overall earnings disparities across all roles and industries, remains significant, with women earning approximately 77 cents for every dollar earned by men globally. This gap underscores that women are less likely to occupy the highest-paying, senior-level positions.
Pay transparency laws, expanding in 21 U.S. states by the end of 2025, have contributed to closing the controlled gap in some regions by mandating salary range disclosures in job postings. States with these laws show evidence of reduced pay disparities when controlling for job type, though the impact is inconsistent. Notably, even states without such legislation have seen improvements, possibly due to growing national awareness of pay equity driven by these policies. For example, women in high-demand fields like tech and finance have secured significant pay increases, with median compensation in U.S. engineering and data roles rebounding past pre-2023 levels.
Globally, women in emerging markets like India and Vietnam are seeing substantial salary growth, with projected increases of 9.6% and 8% respectively in 2024, outpacing many developed economies. In India’s tech sector, women in AI and data analytics roles are commanding competitive salaries, though real wages are declining due to inflation outpacing nominal raises.
Men Dominate High-Level Roles
Despite women’s gains, men continue to secure the majority of “plum jobs”—executive and C-suite positions with significant influence and compensation. Payscale’s data indicates that men hold 80% of executive roles (VP and C-suite combined), while women are overrepresented in lower-paying individual contributor roles (28% of survey respondents). This disparity contributes to the uncontrolled pay gap, as men are more likely to occupy roles with higher earning potential. For instance, only 39% of individual contributors (often women) feel their salary meets lifestyle needs, compared to 57% of VP/C-suite workers (predominantly men).
The BambooHR 2025 Compensation Report notes that C-suite employees enjoy the best compensation packages and report the highest satisfaction, while individual contributors express greater dissatisfaction. This gap is exacerbated by perceptions that executives are out of touch with the financial struggles of lower-level employees, with 61% of U.S. workers believing leadership underestimates the challenges of living on a typical wage.
Posts on X highlight ongoing frustrations, with users like @positionsmafiaa pointing to pay disparities in fields like sports, where men’s teams often earn significantly more despite comparable or lesser achievements. These sentiments reflect broader societal perceptions of gendered economic power.
Key Trends Shaping 2025 Compensation
- Pay Transparency Driving Equity: With 56% of organizations publishing pay ranges in job ads (down slightly from 60% in 2024), transparency is pushing employers to address pay inequities. The EU Pay Transparency Directive and U.S. state laws are forcing companies to align salaries with market rates, benefiting women in roles where they’ve historically been underpaid. However, only 72% of HR leaders surveyed by Payscale believe gender pay gap research is meaningful, indicating resistance to fully addressing disparities.
- Stabilizing Salary Budgets: Global salary increase budgets are stabilizing at around 4% in developed markets like the U.S., U.K., and Germany, down from a peak of 5.4% in 2023. This “new normal” reflects a cooling labor market and cost management priorities, potentially limiting women’s ability to negotiate higher salaries unless in high-demand sectors like tech or healthcare.
- Skills-Based Pay and Job Mobility: A skills-first approach is gaining traction, with employers prioritizing roles requiring AI, data analytics, and leadership skills. Women are securing high-paying roles in these areas, but men’s dominance in senior positions persists due to entrenched promotion biases. Millennials and Gen Z, with higher job mobility (62% and 54% job hunting, respectively), are driving demand for better pay, with 77% of employees willing to leave for a 12.5% salary increase.
- Non-Monetary Rewards: Companies are increasingly offering flexible work arrangements, professional development, and recognition to retain talent, particularly younger workers and women who value work-life balance. For example, 44% of Gen Z workers cite company culture as a reason to stay, compared to 26% of Boomers.
Challenges and Opportunities
Despite progress, women face barriers in accessing top-tier roles due to factors like inflexible hours, caregiving responsibilities, and biases in promotion decisions. For instance, women with MBAs often earn less than men with the same degree, partly because they pursue different concentrations or roles with less earning potential. Economic uncertainty and a cooling job market, with a 4.3% unemployment rate and 30% of Gen Z citing a “messy” job market, further complicate mobility for women seeking high-level roles.
However, opportunities exist as organizations adopt fairer compensation practices. Employers using tools like Payscale’s compensation software report higher morale and retention when addressing pay equity. Comprehensive reviews, as noted by Grant Thornton, help identify and close pay gaps, ensuring competitiveness. Women can leverage growing demand for skills in AI, healthcare, and analytics to secure high-paying roles, particularly in regions with robust salary growth.
Conclusion
In 2025, women are scoring big paydays in high-demand fields, driven by pay transparency and skills-based hiring. Yet, men’s dominance in plum jobs—executive roles with outsized influence and pay—sustains the uncontrolled gender pay gap. As organizations navigate stabilizing budgets and economic shifts, strategic compensation reviews and transparent practices offer a path to greater equity. The challenge remains ensuring women not only earn equal pay for equal work but also gain equitable access to the roles that shape wealth and power.
Sources: Payscale 2025 Gender Pay Gap Report, WTW Salary Budget Planning Report, BambooHR 2025 Compensation Report, Deel’s State of Global Compensation Report 2024, posts on X