The box below attempts to measure how much of the pay gap can be explained by different wage rates for the same labour market characteristics. Pay discrimination may have been reduced but it is still substantial. There s also work to be done in narrowing the gap between the different labour market characteristics of men and women which, as we ve seen, account for quite a large proportion of the difference between male and female earnings. Narrowing the gap will not be easy. Low-paid women with children, for example, have little chance of improving their work experience which would, as we can see, greatly improve their pay prospects.
Much work remains, therefore, before the aims of the Equal Pay Act have been realised.
Joanna Swaffield is a member of the CEP Labour Markets programme.