NI women get paid more than men in full-time jobs: poll

NORTHERN Ireland is the only region in the UK where full-time working women earn more than men, according to a survey.

The average hourly earnings for full-time females (£12.94) were 3.5% greater than those for full-time males (£12.50) — the largest recorded difference in favour of women.

The findings were revealed in the annual Survey and Earnings published yesterday by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).

Overall in the UK, full-time women earned 8.6% less per hour than full-time males.

The gender pay gap here is driven by a larger proportion of full-time females than males working in higher-paid occupations, and in the public sector, the survey concludes.

However, when all employees (full-time and part-time) are considered, the gender pay gap is reversed, and males earn more on average than females.

This is because a greater proportion of females than males are in part-time work, where average pay is lower.

The report also reveals that weekly earnings here have increased to £521 — the largest rise since 2015 — making it the best performing region in the UK.

Average weekly earnings for full-time employees have increased in real terms by 4.2% from £500 to £521 over the year to April 1, 2018. When adjusted for inflation, real earnings increased over the year by 2%.

Despite improvements since 2014, and the increase in real earnings over the past year, such earnings are still below 2009 levels which sat at £527, the report noted.

The rise was driven by increases in the private sector, where weekly earnings rose by 4.5% over the year, while public sector weekly earnings decreased by 0.3%.

Increases in pay were experienced across the spectrum for private sector workers, with those in the lowest 10% of the earnings distribution experiencing an increase of 4.8% and those in the top 10% experiencing a 5.5% increase.

However, wages in the public sector tend to be higher in general, meaning that average private sector weekly earnings (£465) were still 25% lower than public sector earnings (£621).

The Northern Ireland average for full-time earnings in the private sector was £24,000 in 2018 — 25% below the public sector average of £31,875.

The figures also revealed that the lowest 10% of earners in the public sector here earned more per hour (£9.95) than the bottom 40% in the private sector (£9.89).

Compared to the UK, the average annual earnings for fulltime employees increased by 4.1% over the year to £27,006, but remained lower than the UK median of £29,574.

The highest 10% of earners here earned above £48,941 per annum. Northern Ireland also came out on top in the UK for the total of weekly hours worked by full-time employees, having increased for a third year to 38.3 hours, up by 0.2 hours.

And the survey highlighted that 1% of employees here earned below the National Minimum Wage, while 28% earned below the Real Living Wage.

Addressing the improvement in local wages, Ulster Bank chief economist Richard Ramsey said earnings remain “well below their corresponding level in 2007/08”.

“It has been very much a lost decade (and some) for Northern Ireland’s wages,” he explained.

“As far as Northern Ireland’s wage recovery is concerned, it remains a work in progress.

“Recouping the lost purchasing power from the recession and the cost of living crisis remains an ongoing challenge.”