Women in 40s earn 20% less than men, says study

Apr 16 2008 Western Mail

WOMEN in their 40s earn 20% less than men, according to a new analysis of the gender pay gap.

Research for the Office for National Statistics showed pay differences peaked for full-time women workers aged between 40 and 49.

Their pay gap of 20.3% compared with one of just 1% for women aged 22 to 39.

Earnings for men and women are similar when they start work aged between 18 and 21 but the gender pay gap starts appearing after about 10 years at 7.3% for 30 to 39-year-olds.

The pay gap falls slightly for women aged between 50 and 59, who earn an average of 18% less than men.

The study found some marked variations among different occupations, with the widest gender pay gap found in the male-dominated skilled trades jobs at 25%, followed by managers and other senior officials at 23%.

The smallest gap was for professional occupations at 3.8% and sales and customer service jobs at 5.9%.

The gender pay gap increased with the number of children in a family, according to the report.

Average pay for a full-time woman worker with one child was 12.3% less than men but where there were four or more children the gap increased to 35%.

The level of educational qualifications had a relatively small impact on the gender pay gap, the research found.