The global economy is losing at least $7 trillion of economic gains each year due to a failure to reach gender parity in the workforce, according to a new analysis by Moody’s Analytics.

The analysis assumes a scenario where there’s no gender gap in labour force participation, as well as management, in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development nations.

Yet, these 38 nations, some of the world’s largest developed economies, such as the US, UK and Japan, have seen the development on equal pay for women lag .

A Pew Research Center report found that pay parity has stagnated in the US for the last two decades, with women in 2022 earning an average of 82 per cent of what men earn. The comparative pay was 80 per cent in 2002. Meanwhile in the European Union, women may be waiting until 2086 for equal pay. “There has been progress, but it’s not going nearly fast enough,” said Dawn Holland, Director, Economic Research at Moody’s Analytics and co-author of the report. “There are a lot of complex issues such as social norms which take a long time to shift,” she said.

The gap is particularly apparent among upper-management, with only 23 per cent of executive roles globally held by women, . Despite educational investments, the report said women tend to land at lower-level and lower-paid jobs.

The authors say that gender parity in the labour force for people aged 25-64 across OECD nations could raise global GDP by 6.2 per cent,. That could rise a further 0.7 per cent if the share of female managers and professionals increased.

Holland said measures such as paid maternity, paternity leave, and more affordable childcare could help close the gender gap.