Second report warns of women’s pay gap

WOMEN are paid more fairly in Luxembourg, Poland, Belgium and Slovenia than they are in Scotland, according to a report.

The Women in Work survey for PwC found the gender pay gap in Scotland currently stands at 15 per cent, despite improving opportunities for women in the workplace. It also found closing the gap between male and female earnings would make Scotland £6.5 billion ayearbetteroff.

The report said the UK’s performance in the annual index had improved as a result of higher female employment rates and a narrowing of the gender pay gap.

However, the UK still ranks 13th out of 33 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Countries.

The figures follow a recent Scottish Parliament report which also found women north of the Border fare slightly better than the average UK pay gap of 17 per cent. It suggested it could take 50 years to close the gap, whereas the PwC Women in Work report claims parity could be achieved in four decades.

PwC said if the gap was closed, female earnings would increase by 18 per cent – an extra £5,300 per head per year in Scotland.

Matthew Cooper, of PwC in Scotland, said: “While it is encouraging to see the gender pay gap in Scotland is lower than the UK average, there remains work to do in some of Scotland’s key industries, such as financial services and oil and gas, where the gender pay gap remains higher.” IT is The Herald’s policy to correct errors as soon as we can and all corrections and clarifications will usually appear on this page.

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