It has been recorded that the gender pay gap in the manufacturing industry has been reduced by 6%. This reduction in the pay gap has taken place of the course of the last ten years. The report that has been released by Informi shows that women earned 77p for every £1 a man earned in manufacturing back in 2008. Now it has been found that 83p, which means that although the gender pay gap in the industry has been cut to 17%.

In 2008, the hourly pay in the manufacturing the female hourly pay in manufacturing has increased by 26%, while the male hourly pay over the course of the same period has increased by 17%. This means that the overall gender pay gap has narrowed over this period by 28%. Across all industries that are dominated by small businesses, including manufacturing, the gender pay gap is reportedly falling at twice the rate of all other companies in the UK.

The national pay gap was at 21% ten years ago and at 22% in SME-dominated industries. The current wage inequalities that are present in these sectors, with a greater number of SME employees has fallen to 13%, in comparison to the national average of 17%. The fall of 9% in the gender pay gap across these industries are also working to eradicate the remaining 13% average wage inequalities by 2034 if the gap continues to fall at the same rate it has been doing.

There is more to be done to completely remove the gap, and this requires more and more companies across a wide range of industries to actively look to create equality when paying their staff. It is great to see that SME industries, such as manufacturing working harder to bridge the gender pay gap. Hopefully with them setting the precedent, larger companies will follow.

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