2009 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.

The Office for National Statistics has released today ( 11th November 2009 ) the 2009 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.

Whilst there is still a large gap between male and female salaries the gap appears to closing,  albeit slowly.  The gender pay gap  has decreased to 12.2% down from 12.6% in 2008.
However the gap in private sector organisations has risen,  with men now being paid and average  28.8% more per hour than women,  this represents a rise of 0.7 points on 2008.

In April 2009 median gross weekly earnings for full-time employees were £489, up 2.0 per cent from £479 in 2008. For men, full-time earnings were £531, up 1.8 per cent, compared with £426 for women, up 3.4 per cent. Figures are based on employees on adult rates of pay, whose earnings were not affected by absence.

Median gross weekly earnings for all employees were £397, up 2.2 per cent from £389 in 2008.

Median gross annual earnings for full-time employees (including those whose pay was affected by absence) were £25,800, an increase of 2.6 per cent from 2008. Between 2008 and 2009 the hourly earnings, excluding overtime, for full-time employees of the bottom decile grew by 4.4 per cent to £6.90 per hour compared with growth of 3.1 per cent in the top decile to £25.88 per hour.

Median gross hourly earnings, excluding overtime, for full-time employees were £12.34, up 3.9 per cent from £11.88 in 2008. The median hourly earnings of men were £12.97, an increase of 3.8 per  cent, compared with £11.39 for women, an increase of 4.3 per cent.