Official figures show slight narrowing of gender pay gap

Women earned 85.6% of men's average (median) pay in April 2004, up very slightly from 85.4% the previous year, according to latest official figures.

These figures relate to men's and women's hourly median earnings excluding overtime. The median is the midpoint in the distribution of earnings.

The gender pay gap also narrowed when measured using the statistical mean. Women's average (mean) hourly earnings excluding overtime were 81.6% of men's in 2004, up from 80.6% in 2003.

The data are from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) from National Statistics, the government's statistics agency. The ASHE replaces the old New Earnings Survey (NES).

Because the earnings comparison between full-time male and female employees can be distorted by overtime, National Statistics prefers to compare hourly earnings, excluding any additional hours worked. The median rate of gross hourly earnings for men over the survey period ran at £11.10, while the figure for women was £9.52. The April 2003 figures were £10.58 and £9.04, respectively.

A key difference between the ASHE survey and the NES is the inclusion of data on VAT-only businesses and for people who changed or started new jobs between sample selection and the survey reference period. However, National Statistics has also provided a second set of results which exclude the supplementary information, solely for comparison to previous years' data.

Using this second set of results, women's median hourly earnings excluding overtime ran at 85.7% of those for men over the year to April 2004. The equivalent ratio recorded one year previously was 85.4%.

  • Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2004    Download the complete findings of the survey from the National Statistics website.

  • More than 200,000 jobs paid less than minimum wage this spring   Writing on personneltoday.com, Daniel Thomas looks at some of the other key findings of the survey.

    Also

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    Code of Practice on Equal Pay       Read the new Code of Practice on the Equal Opportunities Commission website.

    Act now to level the playing field    Employers should be acting now to smooth the path to equality before reviews highlight pay discrepancies among employees, argue Chris Bracebridge and Stefan Martin.

    Case study: Driving home equal pay at BMW   BMW’s Oxford plant agreed to take a partnership approach to tackling equal pay by undergoing the TUC’s ‘Close the Gap’ training course as a prelude to carrying out an equal pay review.

    Low Pay Commission to monitor equal pay  The Low Pay Commission is to assess the impact of the minimum wage on the gender pay gap and the pay of ethnic minority and disable workers over the past five years.

    Equal pay: the basics   Visit the HR & Compliance Centre reference manual for further information on employers' equal pay obligations.

    Equal pay reviews   Visit the Personnel Today Management Resources one stop guide on equal pay reviews for detailed guidance on this area.