Bosses' bonanza widens pay gap between the sexes

Inflation-busting pay awards to predominantly male business "fat cats" was the reason the gender pay gap widened last year, according to research published today.

Pay for the top 5 per cent of male workers grew at a faster rate than the rest of the workforce in 2002, analysts at Incomes Data Services said.

This growth was enough to pull the average for all men upwards and further away for the average for women – only the second time the gap had widened in 16 years.

The Office for National Statistics revealed last autumn the pay gap had widened, saying women now earned on average 81.2 per cent of men's salaries compared with 81.5 per cent in 2001.

IDS said its detailed analysis across 250 different jobs showed a key factor was the different types of jobs performed by men and women.

There was a large concentration of women in occupations such as shop staff, cleaners, clerical workers and carers.

The largest groups of male workers were found in management jobs involving sales, production and maintenance.

IDS said that within particular occupations the pay gap was at its widest among company treasurers and financial managers, where men outnumber women by two to one.

Similarly, the narrowest gap was for shop check-out operators where women outnumber men by four to one. "Part of the difference is also due to the fact that women still do not always receive equal pay for like work, despite the fact that this is illegal under the Equal Pay Act," the report said.

IDS research published in October showed that pay for executives at FTSE 100 companies rose 10 per cent in 2002, taking their total annual earnings to £1.6m, or £31,000 a week.

The findings dismayed equal pay campaigners, including unions, which have called for compulsory audits in companies to make sure women are not being paid less than men. Julie Mellor, chairwoman of the Equal Opportunities Commission, said: "This analysis should be seen as a call to action on three fronts to end the scandal of unequal pay."

She called on employers to review their pay systems to ensure they were not "short-changing" women.

"We as a society need to reassess the value we place on jobs traditionally done by women," she added. "How on earth can we justify the low pay received by people caring for children and older people – surely one of the most valuable roles in society?"

Ms Mellor said Britain needed to tackle women's segregation in low-paid work and the barriers that prevent many from reaching senior positions.