2020 WBG Briefing: Gender, employment and earnings

Key Points:

• Employment rates are at record levels but the gender employment gap is still 9 percentage points.
• 87% of men in paid work are full-time workers, whereas only 59% of women are in paid full-time work.
• Women are now 47% of those in employment but are still the majority of those in part-time employment (74%), involuntary part-time employment (57%), temporary employment (54%), zero-hour contracts (54%) and part-time self-employment (59%).
• Employment rates of Bangladeshi and Pakistani women still lag behindthat of other groups. Bangladeshi and Pakistani women are also more likely to work in the public sector meaning they are more exposed to the loss in employment and pay freeze than other groups.
• The Gender pay gap has increased to 8.9% since 2018, while overall pay gap has decreased to 17.3%.
• Women account for 69% of low earners, a proportion that has barely changed since last year (70%) and that has remained constant since 2011 (69%) when measured as earnings below 60% of full-time weekly earnings.
• Paid employment will only provide a reliable route out of poverty for women if action is taken to address continued gendered inequalities in the labour market.

View and download our full briefing here.