25 February 2011

The gender pay gap is set to widen again, Marlyn Glen said today, commenting on figures she has received in response to a Parliamentary Question on the differences in earnings between men and women.

She said,

"Unfortunately, the narrowing of the gender pay gap is set to widen again.

"This is because of the expected very heavy job losses in the public sector over the next few years.

"The public sector employs significantly more women than men.

"In addition there will be a public sector pay freeze.

"The optimistic view that the private sector can generate replacement jobs isn’t borne out by experience.

"In the last three years in Dundee there has been a net reduction of over 1,000 full-time jobs in the private sector.

"The pay gap between women in the public sector and in the private sector indicates that the sectors are, generally speaking, composed of different types of jobs and sometimes different conditions."

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