Gender Pay Gap in UK remains high

The gap between the average hourly wages of men and women in the UK remains high despite equality legislation, according to a report out by the Institute of Financial Studies. The report's outcomes have made headlines in many of the major news rooms today.

The fact that the difference between earnings between men and women remains high is not particular surprising but the report does offer some analysis that Economics teachers may wish to bring to the notice of students starting labour economics or discussing equality issues in the up-coming weeks.

The report highlights that the gap appears to get progressively higher for women the longer the time frame after the birth of their first child. It suggests that average hourly wages for women after the birth of the first child rises at a much slower rate than for men after they have started a family. One suggested cause is that women are more likely to take up part-time work after child birth and a continuing a career in part-time mode may reduce average wages due to the dynamic effect on the accumulation of human capital.

It may be worth noting that this is just the first in a series of reports analysing wage differentials for men and women by the IFS.

Perhaps setting this report as a reading document for newly returning second year (year 13) students could be an early piece of home work.