This Data Insight by the Wage and Employment Dynamics team presents new evidence on the size of the gender pay gap in Great Britain.
The first descriptive results from the newly linked Annual Survey for Hours and Earnings (ASHE) linked to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) data have been published. First, it presents revised estimates of the gender pay gap in hourly earnings for full-time employees on average and across the wage distribution from 2004 to 2023. The analysis uses new weights for the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) that account for non-random missing employer responses to the survey. Second, for the tax year 2018-19, we show the differences in men’s and women’s weekly, monthly and quarterly employee earnings – aggregating across all jobs – using tax records from the linked ASHE- HM Revenue and Customs Pay-As-You-Earn (HMRC PAYE) dataset.
What we found
- The impacts of addressing employer non-response bias in ASHE on national gender pay gap statistics
- Revised sample weights result in larger gender pay gap estimates for Great Britain
- The gender pay gap for total weekly earnings across all an employee’s jobs is over 30%
- The gender pay gap for total weekly employee earnings is greater among older workers
These are the first insights into an exciting new dataset. For other insights into the content or structure of the dataset, check out our other Data Insight which explores multiple job holdings, and the Data Explained for these data. Or for more detailed insights, you can find ASHE-HMRC documentation here.
About the dataset
The new ASHE linked to PAYE dataset allows researchers to track all episodes of paid employment for a large sample of individuals, along with all their earnings throughout these episodes. This uses the same administrative data that the government relies on for taxation purposes, providing unique insights into the nature of employment and earnings variability in Great Britain.
This data linkage overcomes limitations of previous household surveys, such as small sample sizes and reliance on retrospective reporting. For the first time, high-frequency longitudinal data on 1% of employees across England, Scotland, and Wales is available for analysis. This offers new opportunities for policymakers to address gaps in employment stability and wage equity.
The new datasets are being created in a partnership between the Wage and Employment Dynamics Project (University of the West of England, University College London, City University, University of Stirling), the Office for National Statistics, and HM Revenue and Customs. The work was funded Administrative Data Research England, via the Economic and Social Research Council and UK Research and Innovation.