Gender pay gap tackled by government
14/07/2015
Large companies will now be forced to reveal whether they are paying men more than women next year, the Prime Minister will announce this week.
Companies with more than 250 employees must now disclose any pay gaps within their workplaces, in line with plans introduced in the final months of the coalition. David Cameron is hoping to end the gender pay gap within a generation. It currently stands at 19.1% for full and part-time workers in the UK, meaning a woman on average earns around 80p for every £1 earned by a man. This is the sixth biggest pay gap in the EU.
Cameron will say:
“Today I’m announcing a really big move: we will make every single company with 250 employees or more publish the gap between average female earnings and average male earnings.
“That will cast sunlight on the discrepancies and create the pressure we need for change, driving women’s wages up.”
Currently, there is a voluntary approach to publishing that information. Only five companies published the gender pay gap of their own accord – Tesco, Friends Life, PwC, AstraZeneca and Genesis.
Nicky Morgan, the education secretary and equalities minister, said:
“We are committing to eliminating the gender pay gap in a generation. This is not just the right thing to do, it makes good business sense: supporting women to fulfil their potential could increase the size of our economy by 35%. To achieve gender equality, we need to continue to inspire young women and girls so that they can compete with the best in the world for the top jobs – and see that their hard work will pay off.”
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