Women in the UK earn 35% less than men in 2024, according to research by job search engine Adzuna.
Its analysis of 672,311 CVs uploaded to its AI-powered CV screening tool ValueMyCV between January 2022 and March 2024 found the UK’s gender pay gap widened to 35% in March 2024, which was a two-year peak, as UK women earned 65 pence for every pound earned by men. This was up from 27.6% in March 2023 and 23.6% in March 2022.
The sectors with the biggest gender pay gap were engineering (53%), construction (52%), and management and consulting (40%). The jobs with the biggest gaps were commercial sales representative (54%), data analyst (53%) and project engineer (48%).
Men in the engineering and construction sectors earned over 50% more than women on average in the first quarter of 2024. As a result, women in engineering and construction earned 47 pence and 48 pence respectively for every pound earned by men.
The biggest year-on-year improvements were in the aerospace sector, falling from 55% to 29%, and banking and finance, dropping from 37% to 30%. Meanwhile, the best sectors for gender equality were caretaking and cleaning (-0.4%), medicine (4%), and social services (-6%).
Web developer and photographer were the only UK jobs where males and females earned equal pay, while female graduates earned 11% more than males.
Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna, said: “The persisting widening pay gap is particularly prevalent among traditionally male-dominated sectors such as engineering and construction, reflecting ongoing occupational segregation and deeply-rooted societal bias in the country.
“Employers must act decisively to close the gender pay gap by ensuring equal pay and increasing female representation in senior leadership positions. Through uncovering the gender pay gap of specific roles, jobseekers can leverage the insight for more strategic job searches and salary negotiations, while employers can identify and address potential pay disparities to promote fairer compensation in the workplace.”
