The number of men working in Britain’s highest-paid jobs is nearly four times that of women, new figures reveal.
‘Scandalous’ data has revealed a huge disparity between men and women earning a six-figure income.
It has fuelled concerns over the gender pay gap in the City and other highly-paid professions.
In 2015-16, there were more 681,000 men earning £100,000 or more, which compares to just 179,000 women earning the same.
‘Scandalous’ data has revealed a huge disparity between men and women earning a six-figure income
According to the latest figures, 17,000 men earned £1million during the same period, while 2,000 women did so.
Former cabinet ministers Nicky Morgan and Justine Greening immediately expressed concern.
Ms Greening told The Observer: ‘These stark figures show how far our country still has to go on closing our gender pay gap. It represents not only a loss of of career earnings for women, it also represents a loss of talent for employers.’
According to the latest figures, 17,000 men earned £1million during the same period, while 2,000 women did so
Ms Morgan, who is now the Treasury select committee chairman, said the figures represented ‘a key driver of the gender pay gap’, adding ‘sunlight is the best disinfectant; sanctions may be necessary to ensure openness and transparency’.
The revelation comes as Britain’s biggest firms are forced to publish their payrolls by gender before next month.
Those with 250 or more workers must publish their figures and many high-salary City firms are among the worst performers.
At Virgin Money, there is a gap of 32.5 per cent and asset management firm Octopus Capital has one of 38. percent.
And women at accountancy firm Deloitte were revealed to be earning 43 per cent less than male colleagues.
The revelation comes as Britain’s biggest firms are forced to publish their payrolls by gender before next month
Ernst and Young reported a revised gap of 38 per cent after including partners, having previously said it was 20 percent.
Some firms had attempted to mask the gaps by not including company partners because they are not required to do so under Government guidelines.
But some now have following pressure from campaigners. Sophie Walker, leader of the Women’s Equality Partner, said: ‘These figures show gender inequality runs through every level if the economy. It is scandalous that women still make up barely a fifth of top earners, and this discrepancy is not confined to those in well-paid jobs.’
It comes as the Women’s Budget Group, which analyses the impact of Government policies, warned of pledge to raise personal tax allowance to £12,500.
It said the increase will disproportionately benefit men because 66 percent of those who do not earn enough to benefit are women.