Assignment

ASSIGNMENT: The pay gap between men and women is closing at its fastest rate since measurement began, according to the latest round of official figures published today....



ASSIGNMENT: The pay gap between men and women is closing at its fastest rate since measurement began, according to the latest round of official figures published today....

Introduction

The gender pay gap has fallen by almost 1 per cent to 15.5 per cent based on average earnings of full-time workers, official figures showed today. The difference in men's and women's earnings narrowed from 16.4 per cent after a bigger rise in the hourly earnings of women over the past year, said the Office for National Statistics. Men's average hourly pay was £16.25, up by 1.1 per cent from a year ago, while women's pay increased by 2.2 per cent to £13.73. For example, men traditionally held most high-paying manufacturing jobs—like auto assembly and metal fabricating— while women held jobs in lower-paying sectors like textiles and clothing. However, the average hourly wages of younger men in manufacturing fell by about 2% between 1988 and 2008 but rose by roughly 10% for younger women.

Discussion

Almost nine out of 10 male workers were full-time compared with 58 per cent of women, while the UK workforce was made up of 12.7 million men and 12.3 million women, the figures for the year to April showed. The ratio of women's to men's average hourly wages (Chart F) rose from 0.757 to 0.833. The gap converged by 5.4 percentage points between 1988 and 1998 and then by 2.2 percentage points the following decade. This is consistent with trends in wage ratios of full-time workers reported in Baker and Drolet (forthcoming). Typical weekly pay of full-time workers in the public sector was £554, up by 3 per cent, compared with £473 in private firms, a rise of 2 per cent. The gender pay gap narrowed in the public and private sectors in the year to April, today's data showed. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: 'The fall in the full-time gender pay gap up to April 2010 is welcome news for working women across the UK. Ceri Goddard, chief executive of women's campaign group the Fawcett Society, said: Two main theories are commonly used to explain earnings differences between men and women: supply-side, which focus on differences in individual mechanisms; and demand side, which focus on structural constraints in the labour market, such as discrimination. Several studies have shown a wage penalty for mothers, but men seem unaffected, perhaps even positively affected, by having children. Thus, family status seems to have a different outcome for men than for women in the labour market and may account for a considerable part of the gender wage gap.

Function of HR

The efficiency wage literature maintains that firms should offer their employees a wage rate that is above the market clearing rate. Paying employees a wage premium raises productivity, workplace cohesiveness, employee responsibility and loyalty, and reduces shirking. Conversely, a wage that is below the prevailing ...