Gender pay gap narrows

Date: 1st March 2010

There has been a 2.5 per cent reduction in the gender pay gap over the last year, new research has revealed.

Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that women earn an average of £11.39 on an hourly basis compared to £12.97 earned by men.

According to the figures, women's average earnings per hour grew at a faster rate in contrast to men's (4.3 per cent and 3.8 per cent).

This has led to a narrowing of the gender pay gap from 12.5 per cent to 12.2 per cent.

However, one women's group has described this reduction as "negligible".

Karen Gill, co-founder of everywoman, said: "This is a key part of the everywoman manifesto, although there has been a slight move towards improving this gap, in real terms this is negligible and there's still a way to go."

In January, a report from the National Equality Panel suggested that women's median hourly earnings are 21 per cent less those of their male counterparts.