Wage gap between men and women laid bare in new report

A damning report has exposed the inequalities in pay and conditions between men and women in Scotland.

Analysis by think tank IPPR Scotland has found working women are 44 per cent more likely to experience low pay than men, and along with disabled people and younger employees are “especially at risk” of financial insecurity.

It also found that one in five workers receives two weeks notice or less of the hours they are expected to work and black and ethnic minority staff are 38 per cent more likely than white employees to experience low pay.

The report, ‘Delivering a fair work recovery in Scotland’ urges the Scottish Government to take “transformative action” and says focus on jobs recovery from the Covid pandemic must be on “good quality jobs that offer decent pay, sufficient and reliable hours, good conditions, and opportunities to progress”.

A new report has found women are nearly 50 per cent more likely to be in low paid jobs.

The authors of the report also recommend action to lower barriers to getting into work, including the abolition of upfront childcare costs for those in receipt of Universal Credit, extending education maintenance allowance to young people in modern apprenticeships and they urge the creation of a £1000 a year “lifelong learning offer” to enable people to progress in their careers.

The report also calls for “fair work levies” on businesses which fail to deliver on fair work criteria and tax rebates for those who do.

Rachel Statham, IPPR Scotland senior research fellow, said: “Fair work should provide a living income – but too many people in Scotland don’t have the pay, hours or working conditions they need to build a decent life for themselves and their families.

"Women, black and ethnic minority workers and young people are at greatest risk of being locked out of fair work.

“That’s why, as we look towards recovery from the Covid crisis, we must now step up efforts to make Scotland a fair-work nation.”

Mubin Haq, chief executive of Standard Life Foundation, which funded the report, added: “Fair pay should be the norm in Scotland. Too many remain stuck on low pay and face poor conditions. We must properly reward those workers we all rely on."

The report states the sectors hardest hit by Covid are some of Scotland’s lower paid industries and they will need ongoing support to rebuild following the pandemic. It calls for new Fair Work Agreements that set minimum standards for quality jobs across a range of sectors.

According to government figures, Scotland’s gender pay gap for full-time employees decreased from 7.2 per cent in 2019 to three per cent in 2020 and has been lower than the UK’s since 2003.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Nobody should be working in an insecure, unstable job that does not pay the real Living Wage.

“Good progress has been made on the real Living Wage in Scotland, with the number of accredited employers up from 14 in 2014 to over 2000 in 2021. Over 47,000 workers have seen an uplift in their pay to at least the real Living Wage.

“Our new national Living Hours Accreditation Scheme for Scotland recognises that the number and frequency of work hours are critical to tackling in-work poverty. Together with the Poverty Alliance and Living Wage Scotland, this new scheme will help alleviate in work poverty and create more secure, sustainable and satisfying jobs.”

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