Women in Singapore are earning less even if they may be doing the same job as male colleagues of the same age and education level, even as this pay gap has narrowed.

The adjusted gender pay gap was 6 per cent in 2018, down from 8.8 per cent in 2002, according to a new study released yesterday.

The study noted that higher-paying roles - such as managing directors, chief executives and general managers, and sales, marketing and business development managers, still tend to be male-dominated.

Occupation accounted for 43 per cent of the pay gap in 2018 and played the biggest role, based on the study by the Manpower Ministry and National University of Singapore economist Jessica Pan.

Experts say hurdles remain. For instance, unpaid care work remains skewed towards women. Some ways to bridge the gap include getting companies to address possible bias in performance assessments.