The shrinking pay gap

THE pay gap between the sexes is closing fast, according to figures published yesterday.

While men’s hourly pay rose by 2.5 per cent last year, that of women went up by an inflation3.9 per cent.

The Office for National Statistics’s Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings showed women earn 13.2 per cent less than men – down from 14.5 per cent a year ago and 33 per cent in the 1970s. A key reason for the change is that more women now work in high- earning professions.

They also benefit from the fact that many are in the public sector, where pay rises have outstripped those in private companies. What remains of the wages gap is almost entirely the result of motherhood.

Women’s earnings suffer when they stop work, take career breaks or work fewer hours to care for children. Women working full- time earn an average of £370 a week against £470 for men, who do more overtime.

Jenny Watson, of the Equal Opportunities Commission, said ‘ radical action’ was still necessary on unequal pay.

But Patricia Morgan, a writer on work and the family, said: ‘There is now strong evidence that single women are earning more than single men.

‘ Men work far harder when they have families, despite attempts by the Government to drag them down, the latest being paternity leave.’

She added: ‘ Bosses do not pay men more than women. It is illegal.’

Ministers recognise motherhood is the main cause of the pay gap and have introduced successive laws to push mothers back into work.

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, who doubles as Minister for Women, said: ‘ This shows Government policies to address the pay gap are working.’