UK sees largest gender pay gap increase in EU
The gender pay gap increased more quickly in the UK in 2015 than in any other country in the European Union (EU), according to figures from the European Commission. The data reveals that men in the country earned 20.8% more than women in that year, compared to 19.7% in 2014. The average pay gap in the EU was 16.3%. Overall, the UK was ranked fifth worst out of the 28 member states. Germany had the highest pay gap, at 22%, with the country ranked third worst in Europe overall.
T he UK's gender pay gap has increased quicker than anywhere else in Europe, official figures show.

Britain recorded the steepest annual increase in the pay imbalance between men and women in 2015, according to new European Commission figures.

The figures showed men earned 20.8 per cent more than women in 2015 compared to 19.7 per cent in 2014.

The growing figure outpaced the EU’s average pay gap of 16.3 per cent and is now the second worst for pay inequality for women among Europe’s largest economies.

The UK is now ranked fifth across all 28 member states.

Germany recorded the highest divide among the big economic players – with a pay gap of 22 per cent. The country ranks third worst across Europe.

Like the UK, Germany and France also registered deterioration in pay equality between the genders in the latest figures. But the overall EU average remained the same.

The gap is the equivalent of women working for no pay for the last two months of the year, Vera Jourova, EU commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality told the Financial Times.

“It is an unacceptable and shocking injustice that women in 21st century Europe work two months a year for free,” she said. “This gender pay gap has remained the same for many years — it is still very similar to in 1995.”

Ms Jourova called for a quicker shift towards equal pay and added progress is coming along “at a stubbornly snail’s pace”.

The gender pay gap in the EU stood at about 25 per cent in 1995. Despite the overall decrease since then, it has been reduced slowly in many countries as male workers still dominate higher paid positions.

When considering elements such as hours worked and career breaks for women, the gap in earnings stands at 39.6 per cent across Europe. In Britain, the gap is shown as 45 per cent.

All UK companies, charities and government departments that employee more than 250 people must publish data on hourly wages and bonuses online as of April 2018.

Brussels is to put forward proposals to put pressure on employers to tackle the gender pay gap this month.

A target has been set for 40 per cent of women in senior and middle management positions across big employers by 2019. It currently stands at 36 per cent of females in middle management and 33 per cent at senior level.

According to the same figures from the commission, only six per cent of chief executives in the EU are female.