UK gender pay gap declines as more workers in low-paid jobs

The UK’s gender pay gap for workers declined further over the past year, according to official figures.

Data also showed the proportion of UK workers in low-paid jobs swung higher compared with a year ago.

The Office for National Statistics found the gender pay gap – the amount average female workers received less than the average male worker – for full-time employees was 6.8% in April 2026.

This represents another decline in the gap, dipping from 7.2% a year earlier and from 9.4% a decade earlier.

Median hourly earnings for full-time employees was £21.51 for men and £20.05 for women.

The median earnings for all workers, including part-time workers, was £20.17 for men and £17.69 for women, driven by the larger proportion of women in part-time employment.

The gender pay gap measures differences in pay for men and women in employment across the UK. It is not a measure of the difference in pay between men and women in the same jobs.

While the gender pay gap has been decreasing over time, men continued to earn more than women in full-time work in all major occupation groups.

The gap was particularly large, at 12.7%, for workers in skilled trades, while sales and customer service roles saw the narrowest gap, at 1.7%.

The data showed a smaller gender pay gap among younger workers, with a 4.1% gap for workers aged between 30 and 39.

ONS figures also showed the proportion of workers in “low-paid” employee jobs increased slightly to 2.8% this year, compared with 2.6% in 2025.

The proportion of high-paid employee jobs was 23.7% in April 2026, up from 23.4% a year earlier, the ONS said.