Background to the Research

• In general, men and women in NI are paid less than their British counterparts, women are paid less than men and the majority of the low paid are women.
• The ECONI has been concerned for some time with the problem of women's low pay and this report was published in the wake of the government's intention to introduce a national minimum wage.
• The data in this report formed the basis of an earlier submission by the EOCNI to the Low Pay Commission.
  

Research Approach

• The report draws on the ECONI's own research and the NI New Earnings Survey 1996 in order to establish the extent of low pay in NI, the gender gap in pay, and to set out the effects of a minimum wage on women's earnings.
  

Main Findings

• The low paid are more likely to be found in the private rather than the public sector, in manual rather than non-manual occupations, in part-time rather than full-time work and amongst women rather than men.
• According to the 1996 survey data, in the overall population of employees, 46.2% of women work part-time and women account for around 75% of all part-time employees. Using three wage thresholds of £3.66, £3.96 and £4.41 per hour nearly twice as many women as men would be affected by a national minimum wage.
• In NI, the private sector accounts for nearly 60% of female employment and around two-thirds of all employment. At all three wage levels, and for both genders, the numbers of those working for low pay is markedly higher than in the public sector. The highest number of employees (men and women) affected by a national minimum wage will be in the private sector.
• The impact of a national minimum wage for women in the private sector would be pronounced. Even at the lowest level of £3.66, it is estimated that women in the private sector would account for more than half of all employees affected by a minimum wage.
• At any of the three wage levels, the proportion of manual women workers on low pay is higher than any other group of employees whether classified by any combination of gender, sector and occupation. Female manual workers would benefit the most from a minimum wage, over half of female manual workers having a hourly pay rate of less than £3.96 per hour.
• The introduction of a minimum wage at £3.66 per hour would narrow the overall pay gap between men and women from 78.4% to 79.4%. Whilst a rate of £3.96 would close the gap to 80% and a rate of £4.41 would set women's pay at 81% of men's pay.
• In relation to the pay gap between the private and public sectors, a minimum wage rate of £3.66 per hour would narrow the pay gap for all workers in the private sector from 70.4% to 72.3%. For private sector manual workers the gap would narrow from 69.4% to 73.8%. For full-time manual workers in the public sector the same rate would narrow the pay gap from 80.7% to 89.1%.

Conclusions

• Low pay is a women's issue and the EOCNI supports the introduction of a national minimum wage as a vital part of addressing low pay. The Commission recommends a rate of £4.00 per hour.
• Low pay adds to the number of people living in poverty and devalues the work done by women in employment.
• Low pay renders many women ineligible for contributory benefits such as pensions, statutory sick pay, maternity pay and Unemployment/Jobseekers Allowance.
• The introduction of a national minimum wage could benefit a significant number of low paid employees in NI. It could lower poverty and given that two-thirds of those affected by a minimum wage would be women the pay gap between men and women could be narrowed.