New online tool reveals Gender Pay Gap by profession
12 December 2016
A new online tool that allows the public to find out the gender pay gap for their occupation, has been launched by the Minister for Women and Equalities.
The online tool, created by the government and the Office for National Statistics, shows construction and building trades, and financial managers and directors have the highest gender pay gaps.
The online tool is launched as details of how large employers will have to report their gender pay and gender bonus pay gaps from next April have been published through the The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017.
The regulations, which will affect almost 8,000 employers with around 11 million employees, will shine a light on workplace practices that could be preventing women from reaching the top in their organisations.
Tackling injustices like the fact that women earn on average less than men is a key part of building a society and country that works for everyone, as Theresa May made clear in her first speech as Prime Minister.
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Early adopters Now that the regulations have been published the Government Equalities Office (GEO) are keen to identify leading employers in key sectors who want to be early adopters (i.e. publishing in the first or second reporting quarter April – September 2017). If this is something you are considering then please contact the GEO by email at [email protected] using the subject line ‘early adopter’. |
The online tool uses the latest data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings to provide the most up to date gender pay gap data. The gender pay gap is now at a record low of 18.1 per cent and the online tool will show the gender pay gap by profession, so that the public can see how their job measures up against the national average.
Alongside the tool, an online quiz has also been launched allowing people to challenge their knowledge of what the gender pay gap is for a variety of professions.
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Gender Pay Gap by occupation all employees) |
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Occupations with the largest GPG in favour of men |
Occupations where average pay is most similar for men and women (i.e. GPG is closest to 0%) |
Occupations with the largest GPG in favour of women |
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Construction & building trades supervisors, 45.4% |
Waiters & waitresses, 0.0% |
Midwives, -61.8% |
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Financial managers & directors, 36.5% |
Bar staff, 0.0% |
Probation officers, -25.3% |
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Printers, 35.1% |
Fishmongers & poultry dressers, -0.0% |
Fitness instructors, -22.9% |
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Financial institution managers & directors, 34.1% |
Nurses, 0.0% |
Childminders & related occupations, -20.5% |
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Assemblers (vehicles & metal goods), 33.5% |
Podiatrists, -0.1% |
Parking & civil enforcement occupations, -18.7% |
The benefits of helping women to unlock their talents are huge – eliminating work-related gender gaps could add £150 billion to our annual GDP in 2025. That is an opportunity that neither Government nor businesses can afford to ignore.
Details of how large employers will have to report their gender pay and gender bonus pay gaps have also been published. The regulations, which have been developed in close partnership with businesses, set out how employers will be expected to collect and publish this data from next April.
This data will help employers to see where they have further to go in attracting more women into their industry or to support them so that are not held back by caring responsibilities or gender stereotypes.
The regulations, which have been publically consulted on and will now be debated in Parliament, set out the proposed requirements for employers in the private and voluntary sectors to:
Publish their median gender pay gap figures
By identifying the wage of the middle earner, the median is the best representation of the 'typical' gender difference. Employers will be asked to use data from a ‘snapshot’ period in April to calculate this average.
Publish their mean gender pay gap figures
By taking into account the full earnings distribution, the mean look at both the low and high earners in an organisation – this is particularly useful as women are often over-represented at the low earning extreme and men are over-represented at the high earning extreme. As with the median gender pay gap, employers will use data from a ‘snapshot’ period in April.
Publish the proportion of men & women in each quartile of the pay structure.
This data will show the spread of male and female earners across an organisation, helping to show employers where women’s progress might be stalling so they can take action to support their career development.
Publish the gender pay gaps for any bonuses paid out during the year
As there is a significant issue around bonus payments in some sectors, employers will also have to publish the proportion of male and proportion of female employees that received a bonus during the year.
Jayne-Anne Gadhia, Chief Executive at Virgin Money and the Government’s Women in Finance champion, said:
“What gets measured gets managed and what gets published gets managed even better. Gender pay gap reporting will encourage all companies to put diversity and inclusion at the heart of their practices and work hard to ensure progress in this area.”
Ann Francke, Chief Executive of the Chartered Management Institute said:
“Gender balance provides a big boost to productivity which is one reason why the Government's gender pay regulations are especially timely. Large organisations will have to report the number of men and women they employ at every quartile, and the difference in their salaries and bonuses. Too many organisations resemble a glass pyramid, with the majority of entry-level roles filled by women, and the number of women reducing the higher up you go.
“According to CMI’s long-running research, the gender pay gap has stuck stubbornly around 23%. Men are 40% more likely than women to be promoted in management roles. The combination of transparency and targets will help employers become more aware of their own glass pyramid and encourage them to do something about it. This is great for business because diverse teams are more productive and boost employee engagement. Through our CMI Women campaign we’re working with employers to use best practice and the regulations as a launch pad to achieve gender balance in their teams to drive productivity.”
Read the full press release from GEO.