Cost-of-living crisis | Rising inflation may widen the UK's gender pay gap

Soaring inflation may be contributing to the gender pay gap, a new study by study by HR and payroll software provider CIPHR has suggested. Their data, which was based on a poll of over 1,000 employees, found that women were 8% less likely than men to have been offered a pay rise that was in line with inflation.

Driven by the rising cost of global energy, and exacerbated by supply chain issues plus goods and labour shortages caused by Brexit, the pandemic, and now the Ukraine war, inflation is currently around 6% and predicted to reach a 40-year high of over 8.7% in the final three months of 2022.

What this means is that employers who were previously offering a pay rise in line with inflation, which stood at around 3% last summer, are in effect offering a pay cut, as the prices of goods and services are rising much more sharply than wage growth. The Bank of England hopes to get inflation back to its target of 2% within two years, but in the meantime, workers are experiencing the sharpest squeeze on their pay packets in over 30 years.

New analysis from thinktank the Resolution Foundation suggests that 1.3 million people – including 500,000 children – will be pushed into poverty over the next few months. The Resolution Foundation’s Chief Executive Thorsten Bell, told the BBC’s Today programme: “"It means we’re all getting worse off, and at the bottom end you’re having to cut essentials because you don’t have lots of luxury spending to go in the first place. I think that is really serious."