Women graduates face early gender pay gap

Women graduates are already earning less on average than men just three years after they graduate, according to research for the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC).

The pay gap is widest among graduates with degrees in law, computing and maths. Women graduating in law with a first or 2.1 grade earn only 79% of their male counterparts' salaries. The pay gap is narrowest for education graduates.

The research was carried out for the EOC as part of its campaign on the graduate pay gap, launched in March this year. The campaign is designed to raise awareness among students of the 15% pay gap for graduates aged 20-24, and to encourage them to ask employers what they are doing to address equal pay.

"With a pay gap of 15% young female graduates are getting a raw deal when they start work" said Jenny Watson, deputy chair of the EOC. "More than half of all higher education students are women, and last year they gained more first class degrees than men. Yet they still earn less on average than men whatever subject they have studied and whatever career they enter - and this pay gap widens as they get older."

The research showed that far more women than men work in the public and voluntary sectors (almost half of the women under 40 compared with a quarter of men) and were more likely to work for organisations with fewer than 50 employees.

However female graduates do better compared to non-graduates than men - the research found a bigger income advantage for women in achieving a degree, comparing their earnings with those of non-graduate women, than for male graduates in comparison with non-graduate men.

The research looked at 8,776 graduates aged under 40 in 1998, who had completed degrees in 1995.

Qualifications and careers: equal opportunities and earnings among graduates, visit www.eoc.org.uk or tel: 0845 601 5901.