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Gender Pay Gap (Labour Markets)
- Level:
- AS, A-Level, IB
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- AQA, Edexcel, OCR, IB, Eduqas, WJEC
Last updated 10 Feb 2019
The gender pay gap is the measured difference between male and female earnings, usually expressed as a percentage of male earnings. In the UK, the gender pay gap across all full-time and part-time work is around 20%.
Data on the UK gender pay gap
In April 2017, the gender pay gap based on median hourly earnings for full-time employees decreased to 9.1%, from 9.4% in 2016. This is the lowest since the survey began in 1997.
What factors explain a persistent gender pay gap?
Notes on some of the factors explaining the gender pay gap
- Breaks from the labour market
- When women take maternity leave to raise a family, it often becomes harder to achieve promotion when re-entering the jobs market. This has an impact on earnings potential in the latter stage of a career.
- Age at which many women take a break from the labour force is often the point when careers take off and wages rise at a fast pace
- Access to education: In many lower and middle income countries, opportunity for women to take qualifications and gain experience is limited, this is affected by social norms and high fertility rates
- Patterns of employment: In developed countries:
- Women are disproportionately represented in part time work
- Many females tend to be clustered in service occupations that pay less – e.g. clerical, caring, catering, cleaning
- Many women work in vocations where wages are relatively lower e.g. primary schools and the care sector
- Gender pay gap remains affected by continued employer discrimination
- Increased female participation rates in economies has increased the supply of labour which may have contributed to lower relative wages
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