What's going on in UK workplaces? Once again, it's lagging behind the rest of the continent.
The gap between men and women's pay has started to widen again, according to official government figures released on Friday.
Men are earning more than £2.33 per hour more than women on average, up 4.4% vs women's increase of 4.1%.
All the good work in the past few years is apparently now being undone.
The Office of National Statistics attributes the increase in the gender
pay to a significant number of women moving into full-time jobs with
low rates of hourly pay, reducing the overall growth in earnings of
full-time female employees.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "Friday's shock increase in the gender pay gap makes the case for decisive action more pressing than ever.
"This is an injustice for both women and men. As redundancies mount, more women may find themselves as the sole or main income earner. It's more important than ever that they are not underpaid for what they do."
But in the EU as a whole, the gender pay gap is narrowing.
More than two thirds of member countries saw the gap decrease between 2000 and 2007.
And in terms of education, women's numbers had improved over the same period in low-, medium- and high-levels of learning, while men had dropped on all three categories.
Harriet Harman, who announced last week that the political parties can begin using all-women shortlists, will likely use this as more ammunition for placing stricter controls on private sector employers.
Expect more in the Queen's Speech next month ...
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "Friday's shock increase in the gender pay gap makes the case for decisive action more pressing than ever.
"This is an injustice for both women and men. As redundancies mount, more women may find themselves as the sole or main income earner. It's more important than ever that they are not underpaid for what they do."
But in the EU as a whole, the gender pay gap is narrowing.
More than two thirds of member countries saw the gap decrease between 2000 and 2007.
And in terms of education, women's numbers had improved over the same period in low-, medium- and high-levels of learning, while men had dropped on all three categories.
Harriet Harman, who announced last week that the political parties can begin using all-women shortlists, will likely use this as more ammunition for placing stricter controls on private sector employers.
Expect more in the Queen's Speech next month ...
