New analysis shows that the yawning gender pay gap is widest in London; on the issue the GMB warned that taking a back seat would result in the ‘fight against poverty’ being lost.

Of all the regions, union GMB’s analysis of official Office of National Statistics shows that London is the main culprit of gender pay inequality.

Comparisons reveal that women working in the City of London are earning just 58.2% of what men earn per week. While full time women workers earn a gross average salary of £716.00 per week, full time male workers get a bigger chunk with average weekly earnings of £1229.90.

Only the Isle of Anglesey (59.3%) and Hartlepool (60.7%) have almost as wide a gender pay gap.

East Lothian came out on top with the most balanced pay parity with women earning 100.5% of what men earn.

The next smallest gender pay gap in UK is in Sterling where women earn £440.80 compared to £446.80 for men.. That is 98.7% of what women earn. Next is Lewisham. There full time women earn £518.50 per week compared to £528.80 for full time men , meaning the women earn 98.1% of what the men earn.

Across the UK as a whole female earnings are 75.5% of what men earn, showing a regional-wide problem.

Dawn Butler GMB National Officer commented:

“The pattern of the gender pay gap varies enormously from one part of the United Kingdom to the next reflecting the different economies of each area. Two things are common however. Women are in the lowest grade, poorly paid jobs in the private sector and excluded from the high paying managerial jobs in all sectors.”

Priority she said had to be given to correcting the gender imbalance to ensure that the fight against hardship would be won.

“All public agencies, public and private employers, trades unions and educational establishments in the UK must tackle job segregation as a matter of urgency. It is high time that the pay audits, long promised by the government, should become compulsory.”