The gender pay gap for full-time employees stands at 7%, down from 7.5% in 2023, according to the latest analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Its Annual survey of hours and earnings report found that among all employees, the gender pay gap decreased to 13.1% as at April 2024, down from 14.2% in April 2023. For part-time staff, the gap was -3% in April 2024, an increase on the prior year, when it was -2.5%.
The findings highlighted that the gender pay gap was larger for employees aged 40 years and over, and among high earners. In April 2024, the gap for full-time employees aged 30 to 39 years stood at 4.4% and at 9.1% for those aged 40 to 49 years.
The gap decreased across most age groups between 2023 and 2024. However, among those aged 50 to 59 years, it increased from 11.1% to 12.1%, and for those aged 18 to 21 years, it stayed at -0.5%. The largest decrease was seen among employees aged 22 to 29 years, where it fell from 2.5% to 1.3%.
The gender pay gap for full-time employees aged 60 years and over is the largest of all age groups, falling from 14.4% to 13.5% between 2023 and 2024.
The associate professional and technical occupations had the largest increase in the gender pay gap between April 2023 and April 2024, of 1.5 percentage points. The process plant and machine operative occupations had the largest decrease during the same period, of two percentage points.
An ONS spokesperson said: “The full-time gender pay gap has been falling: in the last decade it is down by approximately a quarter, and now stands at 7.0%, down from 7.5% in 2023. It’s particularly noticeable that there is now little or no pay gap among the age groups under 40, whereas it is much larger for older full-time employees.”
