Gender Pay Gap In The UK - 2023

2nd November 2023

The gender pay gap has been declining slowly over time; over the last decade it has fallen by approximately a quarter among full-time employees, and in April 2023 it stands at 7.7%.

There remains a large difference in the gender pay gap between employees aged 40 years and over and those aged under 40 years.

Compared with lower-paid employees, the gender pay gap among higher earners is much larger, however this difference has decreased in recent years.

The gender pay gap has decreased across all major occupational groups between 2022 and 2023.

The gender pay gap in skilled trades occupations remains the largest of the major occupational groups, however, it has also decreased by the largest amount over the past years.

The gender pay gap among full-time employees is higher in every English region than in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

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The gender pay gap measures the difference between average hourly earnings (excluding overtime) of men and women as a proportion of men's average hourly earnings (excluding overtime). It is a measure across all jobs in the UK, not of the difference in pay between men and women for doing the same job.

The Annual Survey for Hours and Earnings (ASHE) is based on employer responses for a 1% sample of employee jobs, using HM Revenue and Customs Pay As You Earn (PAYE) records to identify individuals' current employer. Throughout this bulletin, the terms 'jobs' and 'employees' are used interchangeably.

The gender pay gap has been declining slowly over time. Over the last decade it has fallen by approximately a quarter among both full-time employees and all employees.

In 2023, the gap among full-time employees increased to 7.7%, up from 7.6% in 2022. This is still below the gap of 9.0% before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2019. Among all employees, the gender pay gap decreased to 14.3% in 2023, from 14.4% in 2022, and is still below the levels seen in 2019 (17.4%).

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1.Other pages in this release
Commentary on topics covered in the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) is split between three separate bulletins. The other two can be found on the following pages:

Employee earnings in the UK (from Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings): 2023

Low and high pay in the UK: 2023

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2.Main points
The gender pay gap has been declining slowly over time; over the last decade it has fallen by approximately a quarter among full-time employees, and in April 2023 it stands at 7.7%.

There remains a large difference in the gender pay gap between employees aged 40 years and over and those aged under 40 years.

Compared with lower-paid employees, the gender pay gap among higher earners is much larger, however this difference has decreased in recent years.

The gender pay gap has decreased across all major occupational groups between 2022 and 2023.

The gender pay gap in skilled trades occupations remains the largest of the major occupational groups, however, it has also decreased by the largest amount over the past years.

The gender pay gap among full-time employees is higher in every English region than in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

!
The gender pay gap measures the difference between average hourly earnings (excluding overtime) of men and women as a proportion of men's average hourly earnings (excluding overtime). It is a measure across all jobs in the UK, not of the difference in pay between men and women for doing the same job.

The Annual Survey for Hours and Earnings (ASHE) is based on employer responses for a 1% sample of employee jobs, using HM Revenue and Customs Pay As You Earn (PAYE) records to identify individuals' current employer. Throughout this bulletin, the terms 'jobs' and 'employees' are used interchangeably.

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3.The gender pay gap
Figure 1: The gender pay gap has been declining slowly over time, falling by approximately a quarter over the last decade among full-time employees and all employees
Gender pay gap for median gross hourly earnings (excluding overtime), UK, April 1997 to 2023
AllFull-timePart-time20232021201920172015201320112009200720052003200119991997-100102030%
2013
● All: 19.8
● Full-time: 10.0
● Part-time: -5.9
Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings from the Office for National Statistics
Notes:
Vertical lines represent discontinuities in the 2006, 2011 and 2021 ASHE because of a change in occupation coding.
Estimates for 2023 data are provisional.
Employees are on adult rates, pay is unaffected by absence unless furloughed.
Full-time is defined as employees working more than 30 paid hours per week (or 25 or more for the teaching professions).
Figures represent the difference between men's and women's hourly earnings as a percentage of men's hourly earnings excluding overtime.
Download this chartFigure 1: The gender pay gap has been declining slowly over time, falling by approximately a quarter over the last decade among full-time employees and all employees
Image .csv .xls
The gender pay gap has been declining slowly over time. Over the last decade it has fallen by approximately a quarter among both full-time employees and all employees.

In 2023, the gap among full-time employees increased to 7.7%, up from 7.6% in 2022. This is still below the gap of 9.0% before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2019. Among all employees, the gender pay gap decreased to 14.3% in 2023, from 14.4% in 2022, and is still below the levels seen in 2019 (17.4%).

!
The gender pay gap reported by the Office for National Statistics is a long time-series, calculated from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) which samples from all employee jobs in all sizes of company. The ASHE gender pay gap analysis is different from the gender pay gap based on compulsory reporting; since 2017, organisations employing 250 or more employees have been required by the UK government to publish and report specific figures about their gender pay gap. This is done across all their employees, not differentiated by full-time and part-time status. No findings from that initiative are reported in this publication.

The gender pay gap for part-time employees stayed consistent at negative 3.3%, however, over the long term the upward trend in the part-time gender pay gap seen since 2015 is continuing.

The gender pay gap is higher for all employees than it is for full-time employees or part-time employees. This is because women fill more part-time jobs, which in comparison with full-time jobs have lower hourly median pay. ASHE data shows that in 2023 approximately 86% of male employees were in full-time jobs, compared with approximately 61% of female employees.

Read the full report HERE