Weekly earnings rise 1.8% to £528 but women still paid less than men

The gap between men’s and women’s earnings has remained relatively consistent from 1997 to 2015 at around £100

Men working full time earned £96 more per week than women working the same hours (PA)

Weekly earnings for full time employees increased 1.8 per cent to £528 in the year to April 2015, far outstripping wage growth in any year since the financial crisis. Last year weekly wages increased just 0.2 per cent.

However the figures from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings by the Office of National Statistics show that the gender pay gap has barely changed, with women getting paid on average 9.4 per cent less than men compared to 9.6 per cent the year earlier.

£100

Women get paid less per week on average

Men working full time earned £96 more per week than women working the same hours. The gap between men’s and women’s earnings has remained relatively consistent from 1997 to 2015 at around £100 - as shown in the chart below. Women's wages increased faster than men's over this period (a 78% increase compared with 59% respectively), meaning that the gap has been closing slowly in percentage terms but is still no where near equal.

Men earn £96 per week more than women

(ONS)

Part-time workers – both men and women – earn less, on average, per hour than their full-time counterparts. But part time workers also saw stronger growth than full-time jobs, with weekly earning for part time jobs up 3.7 per cent compared to 1.8 per cent for full time jobs.