The Growing Graduate Pay Gap

FEMALE graduates from universities in the UK are earning thousands of pounds less than their male counterparts - and the gap is getting wider.

A decade after graduation, women who finished their degree in 2007/08 were earning £8,700 less on average than their male counterparts.

It means men from their year were typically earning 32% more than them.

That’s up from a gap of £8,400 for women who graduated in 2006/07 with men earning 31% more 10 years later - and £8,000 for those who graduated in 2005/06 (30% more).

Every single subject saw men earning more than women, with the gap biggest for those with a Medicine and Dentistry degree.

Men who graduated from these courses in 2007/08 were earning £19,400 more a year than women a decade later.

The long term gender pay gap can be partly explained by women taking time off work to have children, or a case of men being more likely to work in high-paying professions.

However, the figures also show that many young women are already earning less than young men in their first jobs out of uni - even when they’ve got the same degree.

Nationally, female graduates who finished their degree in 2016/17 were earning £1,500 less a year than their male counterparts, just one year after graduation - a gap of 8%.

Research from the Equality Trust has shown that lack of job evaluation and transparent pay scales means that what someone is paid at the start of their career can be a lottery, and it is a lottery in which women disproportionately lose.

This disadvantage is then exacerbated every time they go for promotion or a new job.

Because their starting pay is already lower, when they apply for promotion, even if successful, women, on average, will be paid less than comparable men.

The gap persists even when looking at graduates who completed the same degree at the same university.

For example, women who graduated in Sociology, Social Policy and Anthropology from Staffordshire University in 2016/17 were earning an average annual salary of £16,800 one year after having finished their course.

At the same time, male graduates were typically earning £37,200 - a full £20,400 more a year.

The good news is that the gap for recent graduates has shrunk over the last three years, but only very slightly.

While men who graduated in 2016/17 were earning £1,500 more than women one year later (8% more), that’s down from a gap of £1,600 for 2015/16 graduates (8%), and £1,600 for 2014/15 graduates (9%).

When looking at specific subjects, 23 subjects saw men earning more than women one year on, compared to four that saw equal pay and five that saw women earning more than men.

Those on a Combined and General Studies degree saw the biggest pay gap, with men on these courses earning £8,400 more a year than women.

At the other end of the scale, the biggest pay gap in favour of women was in Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmacy, which saw recent female graduates earning £1,100 more than their male peers.