National Minimum Wage

National Minimum Wage
2.49 Table 2.4 shows that the median gender pay gap has gradually closed from nearly 16 per cent
before the introduction of the minimum wage to just over 8 per cent in April 2011. The
gender pay gap at the lowest decile is smaller and has fallen by nearly two thirds over the
same period. It is now just 4.7 per cent. In contrast, the gender pay gap at the upper decile
has remained close to 20 per cent for the last 15 years.
Table 2.4: Hourly Gender Pay Gap of Full-time Workers Aged 22 and Over, UK, 1997-2011
ASHE without
supplementary
information
ASHE with
supplementary
information
ASHE 2007
methodology
42
Data £ per hour Per cent
year
(April)
Men Women Gender pay gap
Lowest
decile
Median Upper
decile
Lowest
decile
Median Upper
decile
Lowest
decile
Median Upper
decile
1997 4.71 8.51 17.62 4.10 7.17 14.16 13.1 15.8 19.6
1998 4.91 8.84 18.45 4.28 7.43 14.68 12.9 15.9 20.5
1999 5.10 9.15 19.19 4.50 7.78 15.42 11.8 15.0 19.7
2000 5.20 9.21 19.85 4.64 7.97 15.93 10.7 13.4 19.7
2001 5.46 9.65 21.38 4.86 8.38 16.95 11.1 13.2 20.7
2002 5.68 10.07 22.48 5.06 8.76 17.85 11.1 13.0 20.6
2003 5.90 10.41 23.03 5.31 9.09 18.41 10.0 12.7 20.1
2004 6.12 10.89 23.99 5.57 9.64 19.25 8.9 11.5 19.8
2004 6.03 10.75 23.52 5.53 9.51 19.09 8.3 11.5 18.8
2005 6.31 11.22 24.77 5.82 9.98 20.16 7.8 11.1 18.6
2006 6.55 11.65 25.94 6.07 10.42 20.70 7.3 10.6 20.2
2006 6.50 11.56 25.76 6.00 10.26 20.49 7.7 11.2 20.5
2007 6.80 12.02 26.75 6.27 10.72 21.26 7.8 10.8 20.5
2008 7.00 12.56 27.93 6.49 11.13 21.91 7.3 11.4 21.6
2009 7.28 13.01 28.72 6.75 11.59 22.84 7.3 10.9 20.5
2010 7.32 13.00 28.89 6.88 11.89 23.32 6.0 8.6 19.3
2011 7.31 13.13 29.39 6.96 12.04 23.57 4.7 8.3 19.8
Source: LPC estimates based on ASHE: without supplementary information, April 1997-2004; with supplementary information, April 2004-2006;
and 2007 methodology, April 2006-2011, standard weights, including those not on adult rates of pay, UK.
Note: Direct comparisons before and after 2004, and before and after 2006, should be made with care due to changes in the data series.
2.50 Table 2.5 shows that the median pay gaps for ethnic minorities, migrant workers and disabled
people are much lower than that for women, whereas the median pay gap for people with no
qualifications is almost twice as high. These LFS-based calculations include all workers so are
not comparable with the gender pay gaps shown in Table 2.4 which are for full-time workers
only using ASHE. While the full-time median gender pay gap from ASHE has been falling, the
gender pay gap from LFS rose in 2010/11. However, median pay gaps for disabled people,
migrant workers, ethnic minorities and workers with no qualifications all fell in 2010/11.