Figures from Goldman Sachs have reportedly shown that the gender pay gap among UK staff at the finance giant has hit its highest level in six years, raising concerns about a lack of women towards the top of the organisation.
Provisional data provided to the UK government suggest that men, on average, now earn 54% more at Goldman Sachs International (Goldman’s London office) than women. Back in 2018, that figure was only 50%, while in 2022 it was 53.2%.
This makes the disparity the highest figure since 2017, when gender pay data was first gathered. The figure then was 55.6%.
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At Goldman’s UK-based asset management arm the average hourly pay gap rose to 54.1% in 2023, up from 51.3% a year earlier.
Commentators agree that the figures reflect the fact that more women are working in lower-paid jobs across those two entities, which together account for about 4,000 of the bank’s 45,000 global staff.
The figures reveal that women only account for 23% of Goldman’s staff for top quartile pay.
David Solomon, the bank’s chair and chief executive, said in 2020 that the organisation would like to see women occupy 40% of its vice-president roles globally by 2025. He said that “attracting and developing a diverse workforce is essential to help our firm advance sustainable economic growth and financial opportunity. Progress on diversity will enhance our ability to execute our strategy and deliver for our clients.”
A spokesperson for Goldman told Bloomberg: “We know that we need to do more to increase representation of women at the senior-most levels of the firm.”
The number of women recruited at Goldman has increased but this is largely into more junior roles; it is said to have struggled to move as quickly in promoting and retaining women in the highest paid positions. The data reveals that women now hold 64.6% of the lowest paid jobs at Goldman Sachs International, but less than a quarter (24.3%) of the highest paid roles.
Goldman Sachs said in a statement on Thursday (4 April): “Importantly, this gender pay gap report does not account for pay in similar role or tenure, but we know that we need to do more to increase representation of women at the senior-most levels of the firm.”
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