Great Britain: gender pay gap on the rise in 2 out of 5 companies (study)

Auditing giant PwC has analysed data from 10,282 UK companies that were required to report their annual gender pay gaps by April 2022 (c.f. article No.12460). According to its calculations, 53% of the companies reported a decrease in their gender pay gap, while 43% reported an increase. The average pay gap fell a slight 0.3 percentage points from 13.2% in 2020/2021 to 12.9% in 2021/2022. Katy Bennett, Diversity and Inclusion Consulting Director at PwC U.K. comments, “With one in five employees planning to quit their jobs in the next 12 months companies need to be doing everything they can to attract and keep talent. A large and persistent gender pay gap could get in the way of attracting and retaining talented people.” The biggest increase in the gender pay gap has been in the agriculture and tourism sectors. However the financial sector still remains the worst performer with an average pay gap of 28.9% in the banking and 25.7% in the investment services sub groups. Since the introduction in 2017 of mandatory gender pay gap reporting for companies with at least 250 employees, the average gender pay gap has fallen by only 0.5 percentage points. PwC estimates that at this rate, the gap will not fully close until the 2151. “A century – five more generations of women – is too long to wait,” Katy Bennett remarked.