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New Working Paper on Scotland’s Gender Pay Gap Statistics Finds that Progress has Stalled on Realising Equality for Women at Work
Close the Gap has published a new working paper on gender pay gap statistics with a specific analysis of Scotland’s pay gap.
The paper uses data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings(ASHE) tables, from the UK Office for National Statistics, to analyse pay differentials between women and men working in Scotland.
As detailed in table 1 below, the overall mean gender pay gap has seen no difference which remains stubbornly high at 14.9% in 2016, compared with 14.8% in 2015. This means that on average women continue to earn 85p for every £1 men earn.
Very little progress has been seen on the part-time pay gap with a very modest decrease of 1.3 percentage points to 32.2%, when comparing women’s part-time average earnings to men’s full-time earnings, illustrating the fact that part-time work is concentrated in low-paid, undervalued, stereotypical female jobs and sectors such as cleaning and care.
This very small decrease is partly due to the introduction by the UK Government of the National Living Wage which contributed to an increase of the average earnings of the lowest paid groups of workers to £7.22 for the average full-time female worker, and £7.20 for average part-time female worker. Women are still far more likely to be concentrated in low-paid, part-time work therefore likely to benefit most from the introduction of a new minimum wage bracket.
As table 6 from the report (and above) shows, the public sector overall (12.1%), full-time (7.3%) and part-time (26.8%) pay gaps are lower than the national averages, 15%, 11%, and 32%respectively, whilst the private sector pay gap is considerably higher for each group (23.6% for overall, 19.6% for full-time, and a staggering 40.6% part-time pay gap. The public sector pay gap also decreased very slightly by 0.9 percentage points which may have contributed to the overall reduction in the part-time pay gap, as women are more likely to work in the public sector, very often in part-time jobs.
For the first time the new ASHE release has allowed for pay gaps in the third sector to be calculated. The figures for the full-time (11.9%) and overall pay gap (15.6%) were close to the national averages however the part-time pay gap was considerably higher at 38.6% suggesting that there is a lack of quality part-time jobs in the third sector as there is across the rest of the labour market.
The working paper also provides information on the average difference in earnings in across different age groups, occupational groups, and an analysis of the Scottish gender pay gap over time.
The most recent data highlights the stubborn nature of the gender pay gap. The figures are useful as an indicator of the persistent and entrenched inequalities within the labour market, but with negligible change in recent years, it’s a clear signal that current Scottish policy responses to the pay gap are inadequate. Across Scotland, women and men are still segregated into different types of jobs, and a lack of quality part-time and flexible work sees women under-represented in higher-paid senior roles. Time will tell whether the new pay gap regulations will influence large employers to not only report their pay gaps, but to develop actions to address the barriers that women face. What is clear though is that Scotland needs a coherent strategy to tackle the complex and inter-related causes of women’s inequality at work if the pay gap is to be closed.
The full report can be accessed here.
New Working Paper on Scotland's gender pay gap
Close the Gap has recently published its most recent working paper on gender pay gap statistics with a specific analysis of Scotland’s gender pay gap.
The paper uses the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) tables to calculate the average difference in pay between women and men working in Scotland.
The overall mean gender pay gap has remained high at 14.8% for Scotland, meaning that women on average earn 85p for every £1 men earn.
The part-time pay gap has increased by over 1 percentage point to 33.5%. The part-time pay gap is calculated by comparing part-time women’s average earnings to men’s average full-time earnings, and is illustrative of the concentration of part-time work in undervalued low paid work such as cleaning, admin, caring and retail.
The working paper also provides information on the average difference in earnings in across different age groups, occupational groups, and an analysis of the Scottish gender pay gap over time.
New statistics show slight decrease in overall gender pay gap but rise in part-time figure
Close the Gap has calculated the difference in pay between women and men working in Scotland using the latest Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) tables released from the Office of National Statistics this morning.
2015 has seen a slight decrease in the overall mean average gender pay gap of 0.6 percentage points since 2014, remaining stubbornly high at 14.8%.
Women working full-time now earn 10.6% less than men working full-time, a narrowing of 0.9 percentage points.
The mean part-time pay gap has increased by 1.1 percentage points to 33.5%. The part-time pay gap compares women's average hourly earnings with men's full-time average hourly earnings, and is illustrative of the concentration of part-time work in undervalued, low-paid jobs such as cleaning, admin, caring and retail.
2014
2015
Pay gap in Scotland
Mean
Median
Mean
Median
Comparing women and men’s full-time hourly rates of pay (excluding overtime)
11.5%
9%
10.6%
7.2%
Comparing women’s part-time and men’s full-time hourly rates of pay (excluding overtime)
32.4%
34.5%
33.5%
35.0%
Overall figure (all women/all men)
15.4%
17.5%
14.8%
16.8%
Source ONS (2015) Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings Table 3.6A (Accessed Nov 2015.)
The gender pay gap: at a glance
- The mean average overall gender pay gap is 14.8%.
- Women working full-time earn 10.6% less than men working full-time.
- Women working part-time earn 33.5% less than men working full-time, showing that part-time work continues to be characterised by low pay.
- Jobs held by women were more likely to be paid less than the National Minimum Wage than jobs held by men (0.9% compared with 0.7%). This is consistent with the fact that a women make up three-quarters of part-time workers.
- The mean is calculated by adding all employees’ hourly rates of pay together and dividing by the total number of employees. This includes those on the highest and lowest rates of pay. As those with the highest rates of pay tend to be men, and those who receive the lowest pay are more likely to be women, the mean captures a more complete picture of the gender pay gap.
- The median is calculated by finding the midpoint in all employees’ hourly rates of pay and discarding the lowest and highest rates of pay. The median is not skewed by very low hourly rates or pay or very high hourly rates of pay, but this method can obscure gendered pay differences
While we're developing our updated annual paper on gender pay gap statistics, if you want to know about the key indicator of women's labour market equality, you can find out more from our 2014 paper.
August Newsround
Here we round up all the news about women in the labour market, and all things related. This month’s stories cover older women in the workplace, the university gender gap, the Think Business Think Equality launch and more.
The National
Scotland's invisible women: urgent action sought over gender gap in the workplace
App launched to help small businesses bridge the gender pay gap
The Guardian
Sexism in publishing: 'My novel wasn’t the problem, it was me, Catherine'
Mind the gender pay gap in Western Australia – women are paid $484 less
The gender pay gap is a scandal. David Cameron must act on his pledge to end it.
What does the university gender gap mean for the future of our society?
The Herald
Gender pay gap leaves women managers "working for free"
The Independent
The Telegraph
We should move quickly to eliminate the gender pay gap once and for all
International
How the pay gap between men and women starts small and gets so much bigger
How tech start-ups are closing the gender gap
No Pay Day
Today is No Pay Day in Scotland, which means that women will be effectively working for free for the next 48 days due to the gender pay gap.
Over 40 years since the Equal Pay Act came into force the prevalence of the pay gap illustrates the massive inequality between men and women’s pay.
Three main causes of the gender pay gap have been identified, firstly occupational segregation which describes the clustering of women into stereotypically female roles, which are also associated with low pay. This also accounts for barriers to women’s progression within workplaces. Women are also more likely to have caring responsibilities and so a lack of flexible working within workplaces means they are more likely to work part time. There is also discrimination in pay systems, with many women being paid less for work that is the same or similar, or of the same value as male colleagues’ work.
When comparing women and men’s full time hourly earnings the pay gap currently sits at 13.3%, a slight decrease from last year’s figure of 13.9%. However the increase in hourly pay from 2012 to 2013 for women is greater compared to men for both the mean and median measurements, which explains the slight decrease in Scotland.
The pay gap when comparing women’s part-time and men’s full time hourly pay increases to 33.7%. It is important to note this comparison as women are more likely to work in lower paid part time work.
The gender pay gap varied significantly for women dependant on their occupational group. In the ‘Managers and Senior Officials’ group women earn on average 23.1% less than their male counterparts, showing the persistence of the glass ceiling within Scotland’s workplace culture. Skilled trades saw a similarly high gap of 21.8%.
Figures also show that as women get older they face some of the largest pay gaps with women aged between 50 and 59 in the UK earning on average 21.4% less or a difference of £4.05 per hour. This data is only currently published as a UK wide and does not allow for Scottish specific analysis.
The Scottish Government Economic Strategy aims to achieve economic growth through tackling the causes of inequality and the barriers to economic opportunity. If this is to be achieved it is essential that women’s economic equality is kept firmly on the agenda.
If you would like support in identifying and addressing issues with pay and progression within your organisation or workplace, please contact us on info@closethegap.org.uk.
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