Latest news: Young females earn more

Women aged between 22 and 29 are finally earning as much as their higher qualifications warrant. 07/10/2011

Recent figures by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) show that women employed in their 20s earn on average more per hour than men of the same age. The stakes in pay are only marginal, with median hourly pay at just over £10 for women and just under £10 for men.

The figures were discovered by Mary Curnock Cook, chief executive of UCAS, during research into the gender gap in education.

‘The gender pay gap may take another generation to close, as the pay feeds through to the more senior workforce,’ said Mary.

The figures also show that the gap between men and women's hourly pay is closing among 18- to 21-year-olds and 30- to 39-year-olds. It is only among older workers - 40- to 49-year-olds, many of who will have left school before the explosion in women’s qualification began, that men remain significantly ahead of women.

‘I am pleased that young females are now earning more but we still have a lot of work to do before we bridge the pay gap between men and women in higher education, especially at professorial level,’ said Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and Colleges Union.