Personnel Surveys Blog by Sam Flynn

Equal pay push ‘grinding to a halt’

12th Oct 2010

Efforts to close the pay gap between men and women are “grinding to a halt,” according to a landmark equality report.

The report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), entitled How fair is Britain? revealed a gender pay difference of 16.4 per cent still existed in 2009. It found that women aged 40 earned on average 27 per cent less than men of the same age. The gender pay gap was lowest for employees under 30 and the report’s authors estimated that women with degrees would lose only four per cent of their earnings as a result of having a family. But mothers with no qualifications would face a 58 per cent loss.

In terms of education, the report revealed that girls and women were concentrated in courses which lead to relatively poorly-rewarded jobs.

As well as “anxieties” about gender inequalities, the report highlighted inequality issues for ethnic minority and disabled workers.

By the age of 22-24, research suggested that 44 per cent of black people are not in education, employment or training, compared to fewer than 25 per cent of white people. One in four Bangladeshi and Pakistani women work, compared with nearly three in four white British women, and only 47 per cent of Muslim men and 24 per cent of Muslim women are employed.

Pakistani and Bangladeshi men’s earnings were found to be 13 per cent and 21 per cent below what might be expected, while black African Christian and Chinese men experience pay penalties of 13 per cent and 11 per cent respectively.

Moreover, the report pointed out that 44 per cent of black, Indian and Pakistani students are at ‘new’ universities compared to 35 per cent at other universities, while only 8 per cent of black students are at Russell Group institutions, compared to 24 per cent of white students.

Disabled workers were also found to be at a disadvantage, with only half of disabled adults employed, compared to 79 per cent of non-disabled adults. Disabled men earned 11 per cent less than other male workers, while the gap was 22 per cent for women.

Trevor Phillips, EHRC chairman, said: “In the 21st century we face a fresh challenge - the danger of a society divided by the barriers of inequality and injustice. For some, the gateways to opportunity appear permanently closed, no matter how hard they try; whilst others seems to have been issued with an ‘access all areas’ pass at birth. Recession, demographic change and new technology all threaten to deepen the fault lines between insiders and outsiders.”

Source: People Management Online