In the United Kingdom, gender wage differences persist among various occupational and tenure groups. High skilled male administrative managers, as well as teaching and information technology professionals earn significantly more than their female counterparts. In the lower skilled occupational groups and in some specific tenure groups, including sales workers and general clerks, notable exceptions are found. Here women may earn more than men.
The highest wage difference in favour of women (16%) is found in the sales worker category with 6 to 10 years of work experience. Also, women with the 6-10 years of experience, working as material recording clerks earn 7.8% more than men. In the clerk occupational group as a whole, women with less than 3 years of tenure earn 6.6% more than men and with 3 to 5 years of work experience 2.2% more.
The gender pay gap in favour of men is the largest in the teaching professions, with a huge 44.5% difference in the 6 to 10 years of tenure category. It should be noted here however that for the United Kingdom the number of observations in some of the categories was limited to a few dozen. Male administrative and commercial managers earn 17.2% more than women in the less than 3 years of tenure category, and 23.3% more in the 6 to 10 years tenure group. Yet, in the 3 to 5 years of experience category, men earn slightly (0.2%) less then women.
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Where does the gender pay gap come from?
The gender pay gap is defined as unequal pay for work of equal value which is performed with the same skills and qualifications. This pay gap results from gender segregation attitudes and practices. These attitudes and practices reinforce the existing unequal development opportunities for men and women, as well as unjustified remuneration within occupational groups and professions. Note that the gender pay gaps portrayed below are for the analysed occupations and professions only.
Table 1. Gender pay gap for large occupational groups in the UK based on years of work experience
Occupation | Years of work experience | Male | Female | Gender pay gap |
Median gr wage €/hr | Median gr wage €/hr | % Difference | ||
Science and engineering professionals | Less than 3 | 13.89 | 11.75 | 15.4% |
3-5 | 16.16 | 15.88 | 1.7% | |
6-10 | 21.22 | 15.44 | 27.3% | |
11 and more | 25.77 | 21.03 | 18.4% | |
Business and administration professionals | Less than 3 | 13.65 | 12.13 | 11.2% |
3-5 | 16.87 | 14.7 | 12.8% | |
6-10 | 19.3 | 18.67 | 3.3% | |
11 and more | 29.8 | 18.85 | 36.7% | |
Information and communications technology professionals | Less than 3 | 15.96 | 12.13 | 24.0% |
3-5 | 20.14 | 16.46 | 18.3% | |
6-10 | 23.35 | 17.83 | 23.7% | |
11 and more | 26.53 | 19.39 | 26.9% | |
Administrative and commercial managers | Less than 3 | 15.57 | 12.89 | 17.2% |
3-5 | 16.24 | 16.26 | -0.2% | |
6-10 | 21.19 | 16.25 | 23.3% | |
11 and more | 27.32 | 19.47 | 28.7% | |
Numerical and material recording clerks | Less than 3 | 11.24 | 10.28 | 8.5% |
3-5 | 11.96 | 11.88 | 0.7% | |
6-10 | 11.83 | 12.75 | -7.8% | |
11 and more | 13.76 | 13.26 | 3.6% | |
General and keyboard clerks | Less than 3 | 9.69 | 10.33 | -6.6% |
3-5 | 11.12 | 11.37 | -2.2% | |
6-10 | 13.55 | 12.26 | 9.5% | |
11 and more | 14.85 | 12.67 | 14.7% | |
Information and communications technicians | Less than 3 | 10.21 | 9.79 | 4.1% |
3-5 | 12.46 | 11.62 | 6.7% | |
6-10 | 13.68 | 12.89 | 5.8% | |
11 and more | 18.78 | 14.03 | 25.3% | |
Production and specialized services managers | Less than 3 | 16.35 | 12.13 | 25.8% |
3-5 | 16.67 | 15.28 | 8.3% | |
6-10 | 18.43 | 18.85 | -2.3% | |
11 and more | 27.47 | 18.94 | 31.1% | |
Sales workers | Less than 3 | 9.42 | 9.19 | 2.5% |
3-5 | 9.69 | 9.50 | 1.9% | |
6-10 | 9.18 | 10.65 | -16.0% | |
11 and more | 12.68 | 10.11 | 20.3% | |
Teaching professionals | Less than 3 | 17.04 | 11.37 | 33.3% |
3-5 | 17.85 | 13.52 | 24.3% | |
6-10 | 24.35 | 13.52 | 44.5% | |
11 and more | 25.74 | 20.21 | 21.5% |
Source: 2014-2016 WageIndicator United Kingdom web survey
The gender pay gap was obtained through a comparison of the gender-specific gross median wages and dividing the resulting difference by the male median wage. All occupational groups in the table have at least 10 observations for both male and female respondents.
What is the WITA-Gender Pay Gap project?
With Innovative Tools Against Gender Pay Gap – WITA GPG (January 2015 - December 2016) aims to make a significant contribution in reducing the large and enduring gender pay gap. It is made possible by the European Commission PROGRESS program Action Grant nr. 4000004929. One of the activities is to compare male and female wages at the level of occupational groups and release the results for publication at the national WageIndicator websites of all 28 EU-member states and Turkey, as well as dissemination though press releases.
More information about the WITA project
More information about Gender Pay Gap in The netherlands at loonwijzer.nl