Women in Scotland earn 'scandalous' £3,000 less each year than men as pay gap soars by 30 per cent

Women in Scotland can now expect to earn a “scandalous” £3000 less per year than men, a trade union has warned, as the mean gender pay gap rose by 30 per cent.

The STUC said official figures showed a “staggering” rise in the mean pay gender pay gap from 6.4 per cent in 2023 to 8.3 per cent in 2024. While the typical man saw an increase of a £1 to their pay pack, the typical woman only saw their pay go up by 74 pence. The data is a significant reversal of previous trends showing the pay gap was narrowing.

The typical woman in Scotland earns £16.74 an hour, the analysis found, while the typical man earns £18.44 an hour.

The STUC said its analysis of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings data comes as the UK Government Budget allocating £1.5 billion in additional funding for the Scottish Government, STUC General Secretary Roz Foyer said government ministers should “pay up for women”.

Ms Foyer said: “It’s simply staggering and scandalous that, despite progress having been made, the gender pay gap in Scotland has risen by 30 per cent. Women can now expect to take home an inexcusable £3,000 less than their male counterparts.”

She pointed to Unison local government workers who are embroiled in a dispute on pay and conditions. Three-quarters of the local government workforce in Scotland is female.

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She said: “With the gap growing more in the public sector than the private sector, it confirms entirely what trade unions have long been calling for: public sector workers deserve better pay.

“The Scottish Government must pay up for women. With three-quarters of the local government workforce being female and with over £1.5 billion having landed into the lap of the Scottish Government as a result of the UK Government's Budget, there is simply no excuse for them to ignore the voices of women workers any longer.

“Ministers must return to the negotiating table. Our public sector workers deserve a wage that represents their worth and it’s entirely within the power of the Scottish Government to make that happen.”

The Scottish Government said Scotland still has a lower gender pay gap than the UK as a whole.

A spokesperson said: “While employment law is reserved, the Scottish Government is working to reduce the gender pay gap and promote equality through it Fair Work approach.

“The pay offer for local government workers in Scotland is better than offers in the rest of the UK.”

Previous analysis of pay gap figures have found that certain sectors are likely to see a greater disparity than others, with the infrastructure sector and financial services sector reporting significant gaps.

Gender pay gaps are sometimes calculated using the median average.