The National Equality Panel has reported that the gaps in UK society are “deep seated and systematic” with the gap between rich and poor being wider now than 40 years ago. However it went on to say that the earnings gap between men and women had decreased slightly under Labour as had the educational qualifications of different ethnic groups.
One of the most interesting aspects of the report was that of income inequality. For example, women up to the age of 44 had better qualifications than men, but were paid on average 21% less per hour. This is further illustrated when weekly net earnings are considered with men taking home on average £281 per week, £101 per more than women.
The average net pay per week is £487 with 3.3 million people taking home more than £1,000 per week.
Pay inequality also had a dramatic effect on children with the report suggesting that for every extra £100 of net income per month into a household a child is a month ahead in typical development. Furthermore the report concluded that the type of job and pay that a parent had would have a cumulative effect on the life of a child setting them on “tracks that make all sorts of differences”.
