In the Eastern Region, women are earning 23.3% less than men an hour, new analysis reveals.

Equal Pay Day – the day women effectively start working for free because they are still paid less than men – fell on 4 November this year, 3 days earlier than in 2013 because of the rising pay gap.

Labour have pledged to take action to deliver equal pay by requiring companies with more than 250 workers to publish their hourly pay gap in their annual report. For the first time employees would be able to see if discrimination exists and whether all the top jobs are still dominated by men. On Tuesday 16th December, the Labour Party introduced the The Equal Pay (Transparency) Bill which received the overwhelming backing of MPs in the symbolic vote.

Labour PPC for Hitchin & Harpenden,  Rachel Burgin said: “Equal pay is long overdue. Under David Cameron and Nick Clegg the pay gap is back on the rise after years of progress, as families are struggling with rising prices. A Labour Government will take action by asking employers to publish their pay for men and women. I was sorry to see that the current MP for Hitchin & Harpenden didn’t take part in Tuesday’s vote.”

ENDS

Notes:

The Labour Party has announced that in Government it will implement Section 78 of the Equality Act 2010 which would require companies with over 250 employees to publish male and female employee’s average hourly pay and the pay gap between them.

Last year the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings showed the pay gap back on the rise, for the first time since 2008 (from 19.6%-19.7% for all women and 9.5%-10.0% for women working full-time) http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_335027.pdf