Improvements to the gender pay gap between British men and women have stalled, with official figures revealing that the difference widened slightly in 2019 among some groups.
Provisional data released on Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics shows that the pay gap for full-time employees rose to 8.9% in 2019 from 8.6% the year before, although it played down the increase, saying it was “not statistically significant”.
The ONS figures show that since 2012 there has been little meaningful change in the gender pay gap, with the gulf narrowing by 0.6% for full-time employees. The most stubborn gap is between men and women when they reach their 50s, where the difference in pay is more than 15% and has not declined significantly over time.
But among all employees – where the figures are affected by the larger number of women who work part-time – the gender pay gap narrowed as low-paid women benefited from increases to the national minimum wage. The pay gap for all employees stands at 17.3%, down from 17.8% the year before.
ONS senior statistician Roger Smith said: “The gender pay gap has been falling slowly in recent years for full-time employees, but in 2019 it was little changed. However, for employees under 40, the gap is now close to zero; it’s among older workers that the pay gap remains substantial.”
The ONS said one of the reasons for differences in the gender pay gap between age groups is that women over 40 years are more likely to work in lower-paid occupations and, compared with younger women, are less likely to work as managers, directors or senior officials.
Among the highest paid, the gap widened substantially in 2019. The ONS, which relies on a snapshot of 1% of all the pay records at HM Revenue & Customs, said the gap at the level of “managers, directors and senior officials” rose from 13.9% to 15.9% last year.
When the ONS drilled down into individual occupational data, major differences emerged. Male carpenters and joiners earn 44% more than their female equivalents, while “energy plant operatives” are paid 41% more.
Even in professional occupational areas, large gaps remain. The ONS data shows that 49% of all full-time solicitors are female – yet the average female lawyer earns 17.4% less than her male counterpart. The average female chief executive earns £77,351, while her male equivalent picks up £100,016.
There are also negative gender pay gaps – where female employees on average earn more than men. For example, female physiotherapists earn on average £32,682, or 5% more than the average male physiotherapist, on £31,487.
The ONS said: “The lowest [gender pay gap] is in archivists and curators (-36%), and personal assistants and other secretaries (-25%).”
Separate data from the ONS also revealed that overall pay in 2019 rose in real terms (after adjusting for inflation) by 0.9% in the year to April 2019. But it said that median earnings were still 2.9% lower in real terms than the peak in 2008 when the financial crisis struck.
