Improvements seen across the North in PwC’s Women in Work Index

• Yorkshire and the Humber has moved up two places from 11th to ninth in PwC’s Women in Work Index - the joint largest annual improvement in the rankings alongside the North East and Scotland
  
• The North West has risen from eighth to seventh
• The North East has climbed from 12th to 10th 
• The UK slips from 13th to 17th in the Index ranking - the steepest annual decline amongst OECD countries - with Luxembourg, Iceland and Slovenia the best performing

There have been improvements seen across the North in the regional Women in Work Index, a report by PwC that assesses progress made towards achieving gender equality at work across 33 OECD countries, as well as across the UK’s 12 regions and nations. 

The report shows that Yorkshire’s gender pay gap has seen a slight decrease year on year from 15.9% in 2021 to 15.5% in 2022, the North East’s gap has decreased from 16% to 13.7% in the same period, and the North West’s gender pay gap has increased year on year from 12.9% in 2021 to 13.3%, however the region is still ahead of the UK’s overall pay gap of 14.5%, as well as the average OECD pay gap of 13.5%.

Looking deeper into the data, particularly the female participation rate across the UK nations and regions, which is the proportion of women of working age (15 to 64) who either have a job or are seeking work, Yorkshire has climbed from eighth to sixth, the North West ranks ninth and the North East ranks 11th. 

Despite the UK slipping four places to 17th on the OECD Index - the largest annual fall in rankings experienced by any OECD country this year - nine of the UK’s 12 nations and regions improved their Index scores on the UK regional Index compared with last year, with Scotland topping the list for the first time.

Susie Holmes, Place & Purpose Lead and Financial Services Leader for the North, said: 

"The Women in Work Index is a crucial piece of research and, as a woman working and living in Yorkshire, it’s fantastic to see the improvement across the North in this year’s rankings.

“It's always been difficult for the North as a region to close the gap with other areas of the UK due to the prominence of typically male dominated industries such as manufacturing and STEM fields, but there are a number of incredible initiatives across the North, like She Leads for Legacy and TechSheCan, that are doing fantastic work in bringing businesses and policy makers together, and highlighting the issues facing gender pay disparity. We're extremely proud to support important programmes like these, alongside our own gender inclusion networks in the North, to help future proof careers for women."

The ‘gender pay penalty’ in the UK

The report finds that, even after accounting for a range of pay-determining factors, the pay disparity between women and men in the UK still persists with women earning almost a tenth less than men on average. 

This ‘gender pay penalty’ worsens with age, with women between the ages of 46 and 65 experiencing more than twice the gender pay penalty than that of women between 16 and 30 years. Indeed, while a woman entering the workforce faces a pay penalty of around 5.2% on average, this widens to nearly 13% as her career unfolds. The report highlights the ‘motherhood penalty’, with women taking on an unequal share of childcare responsibilities, as a key driver. This is compounded by men often having more time available to perform so-called ‘greedy jobs’, which demand unpredictable and longer hours and tend to be more highly paid. In addition, women between 46 and 65 are also likely to be impacted by health conditions and the menopause, which may require them to take more time off work, potentially affecting their career progression and compensation. 

Strikingly, married women and those in higher income brackets also face a hit to their earnings when compared with men with similar personal and professional backgrounds - for example, people living in the same area and working in the same industry.

Ian Elliott, Chief People Officer at PwC UK, said:

“Our analysis is a timely reminder that employers have to look at all the factors that contribute to pay gaps. Alongside transparent and robust gender pay gap reporting, it’s also vital that health and wellbeing resources are accessible and the workplace is an empowering place for employees experiencing the menopause and other health conditions. Moreover, it’s crucial that working parents are properly supported - championing flexible and hybrid working, alongside progressive parental leave policies, is key.”

Addressing the gender pay penalty could unlock significant economic gains for the UK economy. If women no longer faced a gender pay penalty, the total increase in women’s earnings in the UK could be up to £55bn every year. Moreover, it could also encourage more women to join or rejoin the workforce - a 5% increase in the total number of women in employment could boost UK GDP by up to £125bn every year.

-Ends-

Notes to Editors: 

1. The five indicators that make up the Women in Work Index are: the gender pay gap, the female labour force participation rate, the gap between male and female labour force participation rates, the female unemployment rate, and the female full-time employment rate.

2. The pay penalty analysis explores whether gender disparities in pay in the UK remain once accounting for other personal and work-related characteristics that impact pay. When we say ‘pay penalty’ we mean the disparity in pay once differences in a range of pay-determining factors other than gender have been accounted for. It is calculated by taking national hourly earnings data from the Annual Population Survey 2022 and statistically controlling for nine individual and occupational characteristics that influence pay. 

3. The full Women In Work Index can be found here: https://www.pwc.co.uk/services/economics/insights/women-in-work-index.html

4. The economic gains figures are based on employment, earnings and GDP data as of 2022 and are in nominal terms.