Proposal by a city councilor of the Socialist Party of Iceland on wage analysis

An analysis is requested of wage payments by Reykjavíkurborg to its staff and wage payments by the city to the staff of companies in which Reykjavíkurborg is the majority owner. The analysis should cover the entire last year and analyze basic wages, regular wages, total wages, and hours worked, with wage payments broken down by profession, (and the relevant department of the city or company owned by the city), gender, age, and origin, if such information is available. The following age breakdown should be used: Under 18 years (if applicable), 18-29 years, 30-39 years, 40-49 years, 50-59 years, 60 years and older. The gender composition of professions should also be presented, as well as the proportion of people with foreign backgrounds in professions, if such information is available. The aim of the wage analysis is to shed light on how conditions vary by profession and social variables. The Human Resources and Work Environment Department (Mannauðs- og starfsumhverfissvið) should be tasked with implementing the proposal and seeking analytical experts if deemed necessary, such as the Social Science Research Institute (Félagsvísindastofnun) of the University of Iceland. It is proposed that the results then be presented to the city council and all professional councils of the city.

A resolution on the revision of the city's equal pay policy was presented in a steering group's terms of reference on June 8, 2021, in the Human Rights, Innovation and Democracy Council (mannréttinda-, nýsköpunar- og lýðræðisráð). The role of the steering group is to propose changes to the equal pay policy so that it better addresses the diversity of the city's staff. The terms of reference state that the work will be based on the goal that all staff within Reykjavíkurborg receive equal pay for equal or equally valuable work, and emphasis will be placed on the importance of examining factors such as origin, age, gender, etc.

The steering group for the revision of the equal pay policy will specifically examine the results of existing wage analyses on wage differences with regard to origin, both explained and unexplained wage differences. It is also the group's role to gather information on the implementation concerning job advertisements and job interviews and information provided at these stages, with the aim of establishing a clear framework that promotes increased wage equality and fairness in recruitment processes. The steering group's work takes into account Act No. 86/2018, on equal treatment in the labor market, Act No. 150/2020, on the equal status and equal rights of genders, and other legislation concerning equality and equal pay matters, as well as Reykjavíkurborg's human rights policy, Reykjavíkurborg's policy on immigrants, refugees, and applicants for international protection, and, where applicable, other city policies that may be relevant.

It is clear that conditions affect people's social status, including how wage income affects sickness rates. Looking at the response to the Socialist Party of Iceland's inquiry about the proportion of sickness among Reykjavíkurborg employees by wage income, one can see the interplay of income and sickness in recent years. It appears that where average total wages are over 550 thousand per month, there is less sickness than where average total wages are lower. The inquiry concerned how sickness was distributed across wage brackets over the last three years, according to income brackets: 0-400 thousand in monthly income, 400-550 thousand in monthly income, and 550 thousand in monthly income and above.Hereyou can see the answer to the inquiry:

To draw a clear picture of the wage conditions of staff working for Reykjavíkurborg, it is important to ascertain income based on social variables, including profession. The ÍSTARF95 occupational classification system of Statistics Iceland (Hagstofa Íslands), which is based on a hierarchical classification system, should be used. It is proposed that the aforementioned wage analysis into professions be based on at least the first three digits of the ÍSTARF95 occupational classification, four digits if possible.

Analysis of gender-based wage gap in October 2020is the title of a report that was prepared by the Social Science Research Institute of the University of Iceland for Reykjavíkurborg and was submitted on February 3, 2021. The following individuals were responsible for the processing and report writing: Guðbjörg Andrea Jónsdóttir, Guðný Bergþóra Tryggvadóttir, and Sindri Baldur Sævarsson. The report presents the results of a wage analysis. It states that there were a total of 591 job titles in the city, and background information is discussed based on gender, employment rate, nationality, age, field of work, and ÍSTARF classification. Here it is proposed that the knowledge acquisition be deepened with the wage analysis by looking at the interplay of the factors mentioned in the above proposal and also at associations/companies that are majority-owned by the city.