voluntary organisations, social enterprises and volunteering
voluntary organisations, social enterprises and volunteering
voluntary organisations, social enterprises and volunteering
-
The gender pay gap in Scotland and the UK
Created: 12/08/2024
News/Events Category: General News
Scotland’s gender pay gap has closed faster than the UK’s, according to the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. In 2023, female employees earned 8.7% less per hour than male employees in Scotland, compared to 14.3% less across the UK. A key driver of this divergence is the different approaches to public sector pay in recent years.
In 2023, the median female employee wage in Scotland was £1.19 per hour higher than the UK equivalent. The result is a lower raw gender pay gap (the difference in hourly earnings between women and men expressed as a percentage of men’s hourly earnings) in Scotland.
Amongst full-time employees, the gender pay gap is even lower in Scotland, at 1.7%. This is some 6pp lower than the UK. However, as more women work part-time roles than men, taking the hourly earnings of all employees gives a more rounded measure of pay disparity between men and women overall.
The role of public sector pay
Public sector pay policy is a direct means that governments can use to reduce the gender pay gap, particularly as women are more likely to be employed in the public sector than men. When comparing Scotland and the UK as a whole, differences between gross hourly wage rises in the public sector explain a significant extent of the different rates at which the gender pay gap is closing for employees.
In 2022-23, the cost-of-living crisis was met with several large public sector pay increases in Scotland, particularly for lower earners.
The Office for National Statistics explain Scotland’s large earnings growth rate was “affected by the NHS Scotland pay rises and one-off payments which were implemented in April 2023”. Low paying roles saw the largest pay increases of up to 12% across 2022 and 2023, an area where women represent the majority of workers therefore contributing to Scotland’s pay gap’s decrease.
In contrast, the UK Parliament’s briefing on public sector pay 2024 reports a pay freeze since 2020, excluding NHS staff and low-paid earners, with pay increases slowing to 1.5% in 2022.
More progress to be made
Scottish charity and advocacy organisation, Close the Gap, describes the headline gender pay gap figure as “somewhat misleading because it does not present the full picture”. First, these figures do not include self-employed earnings. Second, the large public sector pay rises and cost-of living payments that have disproportionately benefited women over the last two years are unlikely to be repeated.
There are still structural barriers to closing the gender pay gap across the UK. The pay gap is higher for women over 40, largely due to the ‘motherhood penalty’ and societal norms around men and women’s caring roles.
Click here to read the full report.
What now?
See other news/events in the General News category
Go to the main News page
Tell us about your own news
News/Events Categories:
Children and Families (83 items)Climate/Environment (19 items)
Community Events (45 items)
Consultations (6 items)
Employability (20 items)
Funding and Finance (59 items)
FVA News (6 items)
General News (28 items)
Governance (16 items)
Health and Social Care (80 items)
Job Vacancies (10 items)
Partnerships, Networks and Forums (37 items)
Social Enterprise (1 item)
Technology (1 item)
Training and Learning (55 items)
Volunteering (62 items)
Go to the main News page
