Det er ikke altid let at analysere betydningen af disse tal korrekt, men generelt går man ud fra, at ca. halvdelen af lønkløften skyldes mænd og kvinders forskellige karriereforløb - kvinder afbryder f.eks. meget lettere deres karriere end mænd, hvilket resulterer i, at deres karriere udsættes - især ældre erhvervsaktive kvinders lavere uddannelser, at erhvervsaktive kvinder gennemsnitligt er yngre end de erhvervsaktive mænd.
It is not always easy to interpret these statistics correctly. But it is generally accepted that the different career patterns of men and women account for about half of the wage gap - for example, women interrupt their careers more easily than men, with slower career progress as a result - the lower qualifications especially of older working women, the fact that working women are on average younger than working men - in other words, the objective, structural differences.