PAY

We know from official data that young women earn, on average, around £4,000 per year less than young men – so naturally, they are more likely to be worried about pay.

There is continuing evidence of unequal pay for equal work still happening – despite this being illegal.

Employers also see this happening: 

• 1 in 10 (10%) of HR decision makers are aware of women being paid less than men for jobs at the same level. 

And worryingly high numbers of young women report that they haven’t even been paid the basic minimum wage.

• More than a fifth (22%) of young women told us that they have been paid less than the minimum wage they were entitled to.

The majority of HR decision-makers (70%) think their business is making efforts to tackle the gender pay gap – though we might reasonably expect this to be higher. Interestingly, men in these roles (73%) are more likely to think this than women (66%).  

However, less than half (48%) of young women in employment think that their employer is making efforts to tackle the gender pay gap. 

Employers are also still too often acting in a way which perpetuates gender pay gaps, by advertising jobs without salary details and asking applicants for their current salary.

These practices both disadvantage women, who carry their lower salaries from job to job if their new rate of pay is based on their previous one – and who are also less likely to be socialised to negotiate.

• 44% of HR decision makers told us that jobs are often advertised without details of the salary level. This is a slight decrease from 46% in 2022 and 2023. 

• Almost half (47%) of respondents told us that applicants/interviewees are asked what their current salary is in their organisation. Again, this is a slight positive trend from 2022 and 2023, but moves in this direction are slow.