Gender-related failure costing UK economy billions

Engagement with women who work in care, cleaning, and catering industries could benefit everyone. This is according to the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES).

UKCES estimate that the UK economy is losing between £15billion and £23billion because of gender-related failure. Finding a remedy to this could add 1.3 to two per cent to national GDP year on year.

Gail Cartmail, Assistant General Secretary at Unite the Union, and a Commissioner at UKCES, said: “Work by UKCES and others shows how improving productivity is essential if we are to maintain business competitiveness, increase wages and raise living standards. We can only do that by valuing and investing in our whole workforce. It makes no sense to allow large parts of it to go undervalued and underutilised.”

77.5% of part-time employees are female. Carol Stanfield, Assistant Director of Research and Technical at UKCES, says more and more women are having to combine work and family life: “As increasing numbers of women have entered the workforce (an increase of 14% between 1971 and 2010 – Women in the Labour Market, Office for National Statistics, 2013) more and more women have to combine work and family life. Part time working is therefore valued by women as a means to do this.”