The government is not acting quickly enough on its pledge to close the gender pay gap, MPs are due to announce.
The 19.2 percent gap between men’s and women’s pay has improved only a little in the past four years despite the government’s pledge to take immediate action on the issue, the women and equalities select committee will say in a report published on Tuesday.
The gap for full- and part-time workers means on average a woman earns about 80p for every £1 earned by a man.
Call to action
The committee is warning that unless the government pushes employers into action, women will fail to fulfil their potential, denying the economy of billions of pounds worth of skills, the report says.
The committee believes that the debate about equal pay has, up until now, focused too heavily on professional, well-paid jobs and not enough on ‘highly feminised’, low-paid work such as care, retail and cleaning.
Women currently hold 59 percent of minimum wage jobs and female part time workers occupy 41 percent of those jobs – almost twice their share of all jobs.
HRreview held a webinar on the gender pay gap issue earlier in the month to mark International Women’s Day, you can listen to it here.
Robert joined the HRreview editorial team in October 2015. After graduating from the University of Salford in 2009 with a BA in Politics, Robert has spent several years working in print and online journalism in Manchester and London. In the past he has been part of editorial teams at Flux Magazine, Mondo*Arc Magazine and The Marine Professional.
