Wales Slips in Gender Work Index, High Childcare Costs Cited

Wales Drops in Women in Work Index: Single-Digit Pay Gap, But Lower Female Employment and Participation Hinder Progress Wales has slipped to seventh place in the latest Women in Work Index, which evaluates UK nations and regions on workplace gender equality. Despite a commendable nine percent gender pay gap, well below the UK average of twelve point four percent, Wales faces challenges in female full-time employment (58% vs. UKs 59.8%) and labor participation (71.7% vs. UKs 73.4%). Female unemployment remains low at 2.8%, but the participation gap between men and women is 7.2%, slightly above average. The south west of England leads the UK regions, followed by Scotland and Northern Ireland, with London at the bottom. Experts at PwC emphasize the need for addressing barriers like high childcare costs and caring duties to boost productivity and improve gender parity in Wales. On a broader UK scale, the country ranks seventeenth globally and tops the G7 for womens economic empowerment. However, female unemployment increased from 3.5% to 4.2%, and full-time female employment decreased to 67.7%. New PwC analysis reveals nearly 946,000 young women aged 16-24 are not in education, employment, or training, up from 13.6% since the pandemic. Addressing this issue could potentially add £11 billion to the UK GDP. Support the show:Get a discount at https://solipillow.com/discount/dnn. Advertise on DNN:[email protected] This is an automated, high-level news summary based on public reporting.Report issues to [email protected]. View sources & latest updates:https://sources.thednn.ai/e9d491b3e500cdf7