As the world marks International Women’s Day, a research analysis has revealed that men are likely to earn £300,000 more than women over the course of their working lives. And the gender pay gap is getting worse.
According to an analysis of the latest provisional Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings by recruitment consultancy Robert Half, men are being paid on average 24% more than women each year, with women’s gross earnings growing by just 1.4% between 2014 and 2015 compared to 1.6% for men.
The gender pay gap is now so great that the World Economic Forum is predicting that full gender parity in pay may be as far away as the year 2133.
The figures have emerged as new research from PwC’s Women in Work Index reveals that the gender pay gap in the UK is still higher than the OECD average and that to reach equality would require an £80bn boost to overall female earnings – the equivalent of a £5,500 average pay rise for every working woman.
While the UK has reduced its gender pay gap since 2000, it remains still above the OECD average and is the 21st largest out of 33 countries.
The Women in Work Index also showed that the UK could boost its GDP by £170bn – 9% – if it were to increase the female employment rate to match that of Sweden’s.
The research also revealed that while the UK’s overall female employment rate is higher than the OECD average many women are struggling to return to work after having children or career breaks. The number of mothers in work in the UK lags behind Sweden and ONS data shows that there are 1.5m women in the UK who want to work more hours than they currently do.
Lindsey Paterson who leads PwCs’s Gender Balance Initiative said that the UK has a long way to go before it can consider itself one of the most progressive workplaces for women. “We are still not making the most of one of the most talented and capable parts of the workforce,” she said.
“This isn’t just about recognizing them financially, it’s about looking at the other issues, including affordable access to childcare but also supporting people at work and enabling them to rise to senior positions.”
The figures come as the Scottish Government revealed that more women than men were appointed to the boards of public bodies last year.
Lindsay Hayward, tax partner at PwC, welcomed that announcement but said there is much still to be done. “It is encouraging that the UK is making progress on the employment prospects for women – including the fact that in Scotland we now have more women than men appointed to the boards of public bodies – but there is still a way to go before we match the Nordic countries.
“There are considerable benefits to more women being in the workplace and having parity of pay, both for the UK economy and for individuals. Achieving parity of pay for women and men would result in an average increase of 18% to the income of working women.”
In November 2015, the World Economic Forum reported that globally women had reached pay parity with men, but only with salaries paid in 2006, saying: “Despite an additional quarter of a billion women entering the global workforce since 2006, wage inequality persists, with women only now earning what men did a decade ago.”
