Gender earnings gap biggest for highest educated

Robert Joyce

Published on 21 February 2018

A new IFS report funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows that one important factor in the gender wage gap is that mothers spend less time in paid work, and more time working part time, than do fathers, and as a result, they miss out on earnings growth associated with more experience.

There has been a substantial fall in the gap between the earnings of lower-educated men and women over the last 25 years. However, there has been no fall at all in the gap for graduates. Traditionally, it has been lower-educated women whose wages were especially low relative to similarly educated men. It is now the highest educated women whose wages are the furthest behind their male counterparts – and this is particularly related to the fact that they lose out so badly from working part time.

The full version of this article can be read on the Womanthology website.