Tag Archives: Pay

Women can’t catch men’s earnings, even after any children have left home

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  • In 2018/19, women earned an average of £22,200 and men £27,400 (median).
  • Men earned more than women at every age. At 20-24, men averaged £19,100 and women £17,700.
  • On average, income before tax peaked at age 40-44 at £30,200. However, it peaked for men between the ages of 45-49, at an average of £34,100, and for women at age 40-44 at £26,000.

Now is the time for us ladies to take charge of our finances. Check your state pension entitlement and make sure there are no gaps in National Insurance contributions. Also consider taking out a LISA.

 

HMRC has issued a range of tax and income statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-income-by-tax-year

Sarah Coles, personal finance analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown:

“Women are out-earned by men at every stage of their career, so if women are waiting for a better time to get started with their financial plans, they could be in for a very long wait.

Despite the fact that on average female students get better results at school, are more likely to go to university, and get more first class and upper second degrees, when they emerge from the education system, men are paid more. Between the ages of 20 and 24, women earn 7% less.

The official pay gap – which measures people doing the same work – is close to zero below the age of 40, so the difference is likely to owe much to the careers dominated by women being lower paid than those dominated by men, and how we value particular skills as a society. It’s also influenced by more women working part time from the outset, and some starting families at younger ages.

The gap between the average pay of women and men widens dramatically when people reach the age when they typically start a family. By their early 30s the gap is 13%, and by their early 40s it’s 22%. This is partly because women are overwhelmingly more likely to take career breaks in their children’s early lives, and make compromises over working hours and commutes in order to have more flexibility during their children’s school years.

There’s no time to catch up afterwards either, because not only are women paid far less later in their career, but they reach their peak earning years well before men too – at the age of 40-44 rather than 45-50. This owes something to the fact that senior management roles tend to have a later pay peak, so women continue to pay for missing out on promotions during key childcare years.

Women are also paid less later in their careers partly because once they have taken a financial hit relatively early on, they’re in the frame for any caring responsibilities that come along – including caring for elderly parents. This may mean they have to move into working part-time once again.

A solution to unequal pay requires a combination of an awful lot of things – from changing the way different skills are rewarded, to altering the balance of caring responsibilities in the home, and building workplaces that allow equality of flexibility. The pandemic may help accelerate some of this change, by revealing just how many jobs can be effectively completed with a much higher degree of flexibly, but this kind of societal change tends to be slow and incremental.

It means women can’t afford to wait for pay to equalise, they need to protect themselves now. These figures show the risk of putting off saving and investing, or building up your pension, until you’re in a better place financially. If you postpone it because you’re on a starting salary, or going on maternity leave or working part-time, then you could find yourself putting it off forever.”

 

Charlize Theron Negotiates $10 Million Pay Rise After Sony Hack Revealed Male Co-Star Was Paid More

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Charlize Theron Negotiates $10 Million Pay Rise After Sony Hack Revealed Male Co-Star Was Paid More, equal pay, charlize theron, The Sony Hacks revealed a lot of unpleasant things, and one of them was the unequal pay between men and women, even in Hollywood. One, amazing, ballsy, actress was having none of this however. Charlize Theron negotiated a $10 million pay rise after reading that male co-star Chris Hemsworth was to be paid millions more for The Huntsman. She will now be paid the same as her male co-star. What an inspiration. We need more honesty about pay so more women can get paid what they are worth, and certainly as much as men. The pay gap between men and women is still significantly unequal. 

The hacked emails from Sony showed vast pay gaps between male and female stars. In American Hustle all of the male stars, and the male director, got 9 per cent of back-end profits. The two female stars, Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence only got 7 per cent. This is despite the fact that Jennifer Lawrence was an Oscar-winning actress and that Amy Adams had been nominated four times.

At Sony things were not any better. Out of 6,000 employees, only one of the seventeen who made over  $1 million or more was a woman. Even worse, while Michael De Luca and Hannah Minghella share a job as co-presidents of production at Columbia Pictures, De Luca makes almost  $1 million more than Minghella. 

In the UK the pay disparity between men and women is so great that women effectively work from November 4th until the end of the year for free. There are a number of social and feminist movements trying to make a difference. We must join them and do what we can. Find out how much men doing the same job are being paid and negotiate a better deal.

Only 2% of Britons Know How Rich They Really Are

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moneyWe are not sure if you saw Channel 4’s How Rich Are You Show last night but it was interesting. Take the quiz and find out how rich or poor you are below. The poll is also an eye-opener.

In a new poll commissioned by Channel 4, people in the UK were asked to guess how their income compared with the rest of the country’s, and then answer a series of questions to calculate the true result. Only 2% of the people surveyed guessed correctly.

The poll was commissioned to accompany How Rich Are You (1 x60) which airs at 8pm on the 10th November. Presented by Richard Bacon, this one-off special will show each of us where we stand in the great money map of Britain – and what that position means. With the help of leading experts, a studio audience and individual case studies, the show builds up a shocking and surprising portrait of the country that is now – officially – the most unequal in Europe.

Alongside the programme, the channel has launched a website app which will enable every viewer to take the ‘How Rich Are You’ test at home. Visitors to channel4.com/howrichareyou can answer a set of simple questions to determine if they are as rich or as poor as they think they are. The data for the app has been provided by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

As many as 67% of the people surveyed underestimated their income compared by more than 10%, indicating a serious lack of understanding as to the economic state of the nation. Only 7% of people overestimated their income compared to the UK – but nobody overestimated by more than 10%. Just 2% correctly estimated their level of income vs the UK population.

The survey reveals that despite the struggles of the current economic climate, 75% of adults say that they manage financially, with 16% stating they struggle to get by.

Despite this there is still a bleak picture of life in 2014, as 61% feel that life in Britain has worsened over the last 20 years. Just 13% feel that life has improved.

The survey shed light on our embarrassment at talking about money. It revealed that 31% of adults surveyed would not be happy to discuss how much money they earn with family and friends, while 19% are not sure how they feel about it.

Interestingly, it is younger people who are more willing to discuss finances, with 60% of those aged 16-24 happy to talk about how much money they make.

When asked about inequality across the UK, the majority of adults (84%) think that the wealthy should pay higher taxes.

Those that feel they have enough money in their household (rating themselves as ‘well off’) feel less strongly on this matter, but still display strong agreement at 73%.

The survey also asked people about average salaries of other professions including a nurse, MP, care worker and average CEO. The results were fascinating with 70% of people overestimating the salaries of a CEO and more than half overestimating the salaries of an MP.

  • An average Nurse in the UK earns just over £26,000. Half of the adults that we spoke to correctly chose this amount, a quarter over estimated how much they earn, while a further quarter under-estimated their wage. Interestingly, those who were struggling in their household underestimated a nurse’s wage the most, while those that were well off overestimated their wage the most.
  • Just 27% of adults correctly knew an MPs current wage of £66,400, while a further 31% thought that MPs were on their soon to be higher wage of £72,000. A further 26% thought that they were paid nearly £20,000 more than their current wage.
  • An average care worker in the UK earns just under £13,000, 42% of adults correctly chose their wage. 50% thought that their earnings were at least 30% higher.
  • An average CEO in the UK earns an annual income of just under £118,000. Just 13% of the adults we spoke to correctly picked this amount, the majority (70%) thought their wage was significantly higher.

Dr Fazia Shaheen, Economist and expert on How Rich Are You? commented: “These numbers serve as a reminder of how little we understand about each other’s lives. We are failing to see the bigger picture – too busy trying to get by on our own wages to notice the growing gap between the very rich and the rest of us.”

John Hay, Commissioning Editor for Channel 4 commented: ““I’m convinced that years from now we will look back on the growing gap between rich and poor as the most significant issue of our age, and I think there’s a real hunger to understand it better (as well as to find out how much our neighbours earn). Richard and the team at Electric Ray have a gift for making important television that doesn’t feel like homework, so I hope this will be both revelatory and addictive viewing.”

Take the quiz here.

 

Equal Pay Day: Female? You Will Work The Rest Of The Year For Free

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Today is Equal Pay Day- so called because the average pay gap between men and women is so large that women effectively work for free from November 4th until the end of the year. Depressing, isn’t it? Something must be done about it. Maybe women should strike. I am up for it. A holiday from now until 2015? Sounds fun.

It is not just because women tend to bear the brunt of childcare, although more paternity rights and men picking up their slack in this area would help, read this brilliant article on equal pay from the Huffington Post. This year equal pay day is three days earlier than last year because the pay gap has widened. Truly shocking. For every £1 earned by a man, a women gets 80p.

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On Equal Pay Day 2014, Iain McMath, CEO of Sodexo Benefits and Rewards Services had some great comments on how pay differences are affecting employees and what employers can do to help:

“It is alarming to see that the difference in take home pay for men and women is actually increasing, despite it being over 40 years since the arrival of the Equal Pay Act. With figures now showing that women earn 15.7% less than their male colleagues, this inequality shows no signs of abating.

It is unsurprising, therefore, that women are suffering financial consequences of this disparity. According to our recent survey of UK workers, 54% of women say they struggle to put aside any funds due to limited disposable income, compared to just 40% of men, which clearly shows the impact that unequal pay has on financial planning.

Equal Pay Day serves to highlight the fact that there is still significant work to be done before men and women are treated equally in the workplace. Until this happens, employers need to be aware of the financial stress that many of their employees are facing, and must take steps to ensure they are helping staff to manage their money and reach their financial goals.”

 

 

Those Who Steal Movies Are Also Happy To Pay

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People who illegally download billions of pounds worth of movies also love going to the cinema and don’t mind paying to watch movies.

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In the first study to examine the differences between movie and music pirates, the key finding was those who steal movies seem to be an entirely different breed from those who steal music.

In addition to movie pirates being less likely to stop paying to see movies alongside stealing them, prolific movie pirates also tend to be wealthier, less worried about being caught and more likely to cut down their piracy if they think they are harming the industry.

The research, by Dr Joe Cox and Professor Alan Collins, economists at the University of Portsmouth, also found that compared to those who steal music, movie pirates are more likely to live in large cities and be ‘early adopters’ of new technology.

The research is published in the Journal of Behavioural and Experimental Economics.

The researchers analysed results from a survey of more than 6,000 people aged seven to 84 to examine the attitudes of those who illegally download movies and music from the internet.

On average, each person had illegally downloaded about 2,900 music files and 90 movie files. Experts claim the cost of piracy in the US alone is $US12.5bn to the music industry and $US20.5bn to the movie industry.

Dr Cox said: “It is interesting to see that people who illegally download large quantities of movie files continue to pay for legal movie consumption to a far greater extent than music downloaders.

“However, it came as no surprise to find that the most prolific pirates of either movies or music tend to be younger men. They have the skills, the motivation and the equipment to between them to steal large volumes of music tracks and movies every month.”

Pirates are generally motivated first and foremost by saving money, and second, by seeing themselves as helping artists bypass middlemen and reach wider audiences, the study found. But it also found significant differences in the behaviour and attitudes of music and movie pirates. Those who illegally download large volumes of movie files are likely to be significantly:

– less likely to cut back their spending on legal movies compared to those who steal music;
– better off financially than music pirates;
– more likely to be male;
– less likely to think they’ll be caught compared to those who steal music;
– more likely to limit their piracy if they think stealing is harms the film industry.

Dr Cox said: “These findings are important from a policy perspective, because they suggest campaigns that emphasise the harmful effects on the movie industry of piracy are much more likely to be effective than similar campaigns focusing on the music industry.

“One of the reasons movie pirates are a different breed is downloading and file-sharing films is much more technologically demanding. It requires faster internet speeds, greater digital storage capabilities and access to a wider range of devices for playback than pirating music, which has now become relatively simple, fast and cheap.”

The researchers, from Portsmouth Business School, analysed a Finnish survey dataset of 6,100 people, which reinforces that piracy is not limited to the US and UK markets and that the behaviours and attitudes are similar worldwide.

Among the reasons people gave for downloading files illegally were that it saved money, allowed access to material not on general release or before it was released, and has benefits such as helping artists bypass record companies or movie studios.

Reasons given for not downloading or for limiting piracy included fear of downloading viruses or malware, content not matching the description, being difficult to find, and being of poor quality.

Mother Hosts Feminism Debate With Lorraine Candy, MP Jo Swinson and Ruby Tandoe

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feminismOn Monday 18 November, Mother London will host a debate about modern feminism. Equalities Minister Jo Swinson and Ruby Tandoe will join a panel hosted by ELLE editor Lorraine Candy to discuss the topic “Does feminism need a rebrand?” They will be joined by Laura Jordan Bambach, President of D&AD; Kat Banyard, UK Feminista; Ikarama Larasi, Rewind & Reframe and Holly Armstrong & Rhiannon Wlliams, Vagenda.

Following the recent success of ELLE and Mother’s www.makethempay.co.uk equal pay campaign, the panel will also address the issue of the pay gap, which is currently 17.5% in the UK.

Using www.makethempay.co.uk, employees can compare their pay to colleagues of a different sex and encourage their employers to sign up to the Think, Act Report, which encourages businesses to enforce equal pay legislation.

DOES FEMINISM NEED A REBRAND?

THE DEBATE

Chaired by Lorraine Candy ELLE Editor-in-Chief

Performance by Sara Pascoe

Speakers

Jo Swinson, Women and Equalities Minister

Laura Jordan Bambach, President D&AD

Ruby Tandoh, The Great British Bake-off

Kat Banyard, UK Feminista

Ikarama Larasi, Rewind & Reframe

Holly Armstrong & Rhiannon Wlliams, Vagenda

6.30-9pm Monday 18 November

Mother London, 10 Redchurch Street, E2 7DD

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Equal Education Unequal Pay

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It’s 2012 and close to four years after the Lilly ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed into law. Surely, the gender wage gap has been closed, right? Wrong.

Even with moves toward equalizing pay between men and women, men still make almost 20% more than women in nearly all industries. This is despite the fact that women receive the same education, with the same tuition price tags and levels of debt upon graduation. The only major differences are that there are more ladies in college and they have better average GPAs to boot. The benefits of paying women their fair share include increasing the GDP while reducing the poverty rates for families.

Check out the infographic below to see what else the gender wage gap affects.

Equal_Education_Unequal_Pay

Equal Education Unequal Pay by LearnStuff.com