Scottish Government
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Gender pay gap narrows

1.8 percentage points drop in gender pay gap over the year.

Scotland has seen a drop of 1.8 percentage points in the gender pay gap over the year, with the figure for 2015 standing at 7.3 per cent.

The latest figures from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2015 also showed the overall UK gender pay gap has seen a drop of 0.2 percentage points over the year, with the 2015 figure standing at 9.4 per cent.

The publication also shows that median gross weekly full-time earnings for women in Scotland have seen the second highest increase of the 12 UK countries and regions, up three per cent over the year, compared to the UK figure of 2.1 per cent.

The news has been welcomed by Cabinet Secretary for Fair Work, Skills and Training Roseanna Cunningham who said:

“This is very welcome news and demonstrates the progress Scotland is making in closing the gender pay gap, particularly when compared to the rest of the UK. The narrowing of the gap in Scotland has also played a significant part in the overall UK improvement.

“Female employment in Scotland is also at record levels, with the latest figures from Eurostat putting us second in Europe, behind only Sweden.

“While the gender pay gap is lower than the rest of the UK, we realise there is more work to do. The pay gap is still too wide and while we have more women in work, they are much more likely to be in lower paid work, often without the stability and assurance that their job is secure.

“We want a workforce that properly reflects our society and for this work to start right at the top. We are therefore encouraging companies, third sector organisations and public sector bodies across the country to make a commitment that by 2020, 50 per cent of their board members will be women.”

Notes To Editors

The Office for National Statistics publication Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2015 can be found here.

 

Channel website: http://www.gov.scot/

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