4. Headline measure

The Office for National Statistics headline measure for the gender pay gap uses Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) data and is calculated as the difference between median gross hourly earnings for men and women as a proportion of median gross hourly earnings for men. The analysis focuses on hourly earnings excluding overtime to control for the difference in the hours worked between men and women and the fact that men tend to work more overtime1.

In this section, analysis focuses on the headline gender pay gap measure, followed by the proportion of jobs by working pattern for men and women. Then, it focuses on occupation, showing the proportion of jobs and gender pay gap. Finally, the gender pay gap is reported by age groups and job tenure.

The headline measure for the gender pay gap

Figure 1 shows the median gross hourly earnings for men and women full-time employees. Between 2011 and 2017, men’s pay has grown by 10.4% from £13.12 to £14.48 per hour whilst women’s pay has grown by 12.0% from £11.75 to £13.16 per hour. In 2017, men on average were paid £1.32 more per hour than women, which, as a proportion of men’s pay, is a pay gap of 9.1%.

The pay gap has fallen from 10.5% in 2011 to 9.1% in 2017, but remains positive in value – meaning that on average men are paid more than women.

Figure 1: Median gross hourly earnings (excluding overtime) for full-time employees by sex, UK, 2011 to 2017 Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) - Office for National Statistics Notes: Employees on adult rates, pay unaffected by absence. Pay gap figures represent the difference between men's and women's hourly earnings as a percentage of men's earnings. Full-time is defined as employees working more than 30 paid hours per week (or 25 or more for the teaching professions). 2017 data are provisional. Download this image Figure 1: Median gross hourly earnings (excluding overtime) for full-time employees by sex, UK, 2011 to 2017 .png .xls

The pay gap is useful in measuring pay equality due to its simple calculation; however, it does not measure the pay difference between men and women at the same pay grade, doing the same job, with the same working pattern. It also does not include any of the personal characteristics that may determine a person’s pay such as age.

Working patterns for men and women

Alternative measures of the pay gap allow for the control of the differences in the type of work that men and women do. One of the factors that affects pay for men and women is their working pattern. In 2017, the median hourly pay was higher for both men and women if they worked full-time compared with part-time workers. For men, median hourly pay for full-time work was 65.4% higher than for part-time work, and for women it was 42.8% higher2.

Figure 2 shows the proportions of men’s and women’s jobs that are full-time across different age groups. As can be seen, men are proportionally more likely to work full-time than women. At younger ages (16 to 21) men’s jobs are split almost equally between full-time (51.2%) and part-time (49.8%) but, between the ages of 30 to 39 (91.3%) and 40 to 49 (91.3%) more than 90% of men’s jobs are full-time. Women however, are less likely to work full-time, with only 61.1% and 57.6% of women’s jobs being full-time for ages 30 to 39 and 40 to 49 respectively.

Figure 2: Proportion of full-time men’s jobs and women’s jobs by working pattern and age group, UK, 2017 Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) - Office for National Statistics Notes: Employees on adult rates, pay unaffected by absence. Full-time is defined as employees working more than 30 paid hours per week (or 25 or more for the teaching professions). 2017 data are provisional. Download this chart Figure 2: Proportion of full-time men’s jobs and women’s jobs by working pattern and age group, UK, 2017 Image .csv .xls

Occupation and the gender pay gap

Working pattern is not the only factor that can influence how much a job pays. Pay can also vary based on which occupation someone is employed in. When comparing hourly earnings for full-time employees men in the highest-paid occupation group (chief executives and senior officials) earn 5.3 times more than men in the lowest-paid occupation group (elementary occupations) whilst for women this figure is 4.5 times more.

When employment within an occupation is heavily skewed towards either men or women, it is likely to introduce occupational segregation – where some occupations become more attractive than others to either men or women.

Figure 3 shows the proportion of men and women full-time employees in each occupation group. Men have more than 60% share in six occupation groups whilst women have more than 60% share in only two groups, the remaining three occupation groups are roughly equal. Men have the highest employment share in skilled trade occupations with 92.0%. In contrast, women have the highest employment share in caring, leisure and other service occupations with 75.6%. Noticeably men have high proportion shares in the high-skill occupation groups (chief executives and senior officials, and managers and directors) and the low-skill occupation groups (elementary occupations, and process plant and machine operatives).

Figure 3: Proportion of men and women full-time employees by occupation, UK, 2017 Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) - Office for National Statistics Notes: Employees on adult rates, pay unaffected by absence. Full-time is defined as employees working more than 30 paid hours per week (or 25 or more for the teaching professions). 2017 data are provisional. Download this chart Figure 3: Proportion of men and women full-time employees by occupation, UK, 2017 Image .csv .xls

In 2017, men and women working full-time in the highest-paid occupation group (chief executives and senior officials) earned a median hourly pay of £48.53 and £36.54 respectively, men also had 72.8% of the full-time employment share in this occupation. Similarly, men had 70.2% of the full-time employment in the second-highest-paid occupation group (managers and directors) and had a median hourly pay of £23.69, which was £2.62 higher than the median hourly pay for women.

Figure 4 shows the gender pay gap for full-time and part-time workers in different occupations in 2017. For full-time workers, the pay gap is entirely in favour of men, the gap is largest in the skilled trade occupations group at 24.8% and smallest in sales and customer service occupations at 3.6%. Interestingly where the pay gap is largest (skilled trade occupations), men have the highest full-time employment share at 92.0% and where it is smallest (sales and customer service occupations), the full-time employment shares are almost equal with 50.1% men and 49.9% women. The respective hourly pay in that occupation is £9.62 for men and £9.27 for women.

Figure 4: Gender pay gap for median gross hourly earnings (excluding overtime) by occupation and working pattern, UK, 2017 Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) - Office for National Statistics Notes: Employees on adult rates, pay unaffected by absence. Pay gap figures represent the difference between men's and women's hourly earnings as a percentage of men's earnings. Full-time is defined as employees working more than 30 paid hours per week (or 25 or more for the teaching professions). 2017 data are provisional. Download this chart Figure 4: Gender pay gap for median gross hourly earnings (excluding overtime) by occupation and working pattern, UK, 2017 Image .csv .xls

Age and the gender pay gap

One of the main characteristics that influences pay is someone’s age. This is because age approximates experience and in particular on-the-job training3 (this is a theme that is expanded on further in The impact of age in section 5). The analysis is therefore extended to look at the gender pay gap for people of similar age and working pattern.

Figure 5 shows the pay gap between men and women by age and working pattern. Across the younger age groups (16 to 21, 22 to 29 and 30 to 39), the gender pay gap is positive but relatively small for full-time workers (never greater than 2.4%). For part-time workers of the same age, the gap is negative. The widening of the pay gap in favour of women for those working part-time and aged 30 to 39 is likely to be influenced by the fact that the average age of first-time mothers is 28.8 years4 (continuing its upward trend) who may have a preference for part-time employment when rejoining the labour market (65.5% of mothers seek part-time work)5.

However, in older age groups (40 to 49, 50 to 59 and 60 and over) the pay gap is almost always positive for both full- and part-time workers. The increased gap for ages 40 to 49 and 50 to 59 may capture the differential impact of taking time out of the labour market. One possible reason for taking time out is having children; between April and June 2017, the employment rate for women with dependent children is 73.7% with 51.8% of the jobs being part-time whilst the employment rate for men with dependent children is 92.4% with 90.1% of these jobs being full-time6.

Figure 5: Gender pay gap for median gross hourly earnings (excluding overtime) by age group and working pattern, UK, 2017 Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) - Office for National Statistics Notes: Employees on adult rates, pay unaffected by absence. Pay gap figures represent the difference between men's and women's hourly earnings as a percentage of men's earnings. Full-time is defined as employees working more than 30 paid hours per week (or 25 or more for the teaching professions). 2017 data are provisional. Download this chart Figure 5: Gender pay gap for median gross hourly earnings (excluding overtime) by age group and working pattern, UK, 2017 Image .csv .xls

Job tenure and the gender pay gap

Another characteristic that can approximate experience is the number of years a person has worked in a particular job. In 2017, the median hourly pay for men who worked full-time and had been in the same job for more than 20 years was £18.35, which was 59.6% higher than men who had been in their job for less than one year. Similarly, women who worked full-time and were in the same job for more than 20 years earned £16.16 per hour, 48.4% higher than women who had been in the same job for less than a year. Hence, somebody who has more years of service is likely to be paid more than someone who has just started. It is important to note here not all of the difference in pay can be attributed to the specific effect of job tenure.

Considering these differences, the analysis is refined to observe the gender pay gap for those with similar job tenures and working patterns.

Figure 6 displays the gender pay gap at differing levels of tenure for each working pattern. For full-time employees the gender pay gap is consistently positive in value indicating that for the levels of tenure compared, men are paid more than women. The pay gap is 5.3% for those who have been in their job for one year or less, and rises to 11.9% for those who have been in the same job for 20 or more years.

For part-time work the pay gap is negative for up to five years of employment in the same job. Women are paid 3.8% more than men when working in the same job for one year or less. After five years of employment in the same job, men begin to be paid more than women for part-time work with men earning 2.4% more. For those currently employed part-time who have been in the same job for more than 20 years the pay gap is 28.3%.

Figure 6: Gender pay gap for median gross hourly earnings (excluding overtime) by job tenure and working pattern, UK, 2017 Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) - Office for National Statistics Notes: Employees on adult rates, pay unaffected by absence. Pay gap figures represent the difference between men's and women's hourly earnings as a percentage of men's earnings. Full-time is defined as employees working more than 30 paid hours per week (or 25 or more for the teaching professions). 2017 data are provisional. Download this chart Figure 6: Gender pay gap for median gross hourly earnings (excluding overtime) by job tenure and working pattern, UK, 2017 Image .csv .xls

Notes for: Headline measure