Pensions boost for women as 200,000 more work full-time
WOMEN will be better off in retirement as more enter the workplace and qualify for employer pension schemes, figures reveal.
There are now 207,000 more females in full-time employment than this time last year and 77,000 fewer working part-time, UK Labour Market statistics show.
Pensions expert Helen Morrissey, of life insurers Royal London, said: “Such a trend spells good news. One of the key reasons women are under-represented when it comes to auto-enrolment is because they are in parttime work.
“Bringing more women into the auto-enrolment regime means more will be able to put sustainable plans in place for retirement.”
The data, published yesterday by the Office for National Statistics, revealed a raft of positive employment and wage figures.
Wages of all workers rose at their fastest in a decade in the three months to October – an increase of 3.3 per cent on the previous year and up from 3.1 per cent in the three months to September.
The figures suggest that the labour market is stronger than at any time since the 2008 financial crisis, with increases in full-time employment, record low redundancies and a record high number of job vacancies.
The unemployment rate was 4.1 per cent, virtually unchanged compared with May to July. There were 1.38 million people unemployed, 20,000 more than the previous three months but 49,000 fewer than a year earlier.
The employment rate – the proportion aged 16 to 64 in work – was estimated at 75.7 per cent, up from 75.1 per cent a year earlier and the joint-highest since comparable estimates began in 1971.
There were 32.48 million people in work, 79,000 more than for May to July and 396,000 more than for a year earlier.
The number of people aged 16 to 64 not working or looking for work was 8.66 million, 95,000 fewer than for May to July and 195,000 fewer than for a year earlier.
The number of vacancies was 848,000 for September to November, 10,000 more than the estimate for June to August and 40,000 more than for the same threemonth period in 2017.
And the rise in salaries is also beginning to overcome significant increases in prices, the figures showed. Real regular pay, which takes into account inflation, was up 1.1 per cent – a level not seen since late 2016.