Little progress has been made in closing age pay gaps, according to The Age and Employment Network (TAEN).

Commenting on the latest Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2007 from the Office of National Statistics, TAEN says that the pay gaps between ‘prime age’ and older workers have barely closed for either men or women.

TAEN says that contrary to public perception, the average gross annual, weekly and hourly earnings of older workers aged 50+ continues to be lower than those of men in their 40s and women in their 30s and 40s. This is the case for both full-time and part-time workers.

According to the official statistics, based on earnings in April this year, the average gross weekly earnings for men working full-time aged 50-59 were 6.9 per cent lower than those for men aged 40-49 (£653.00 vs £701.30 per week).

This represents a drop of 0.4 per cent in the differential between the two age groups over the past year. However, the gap in pay between the 40-somethings and those aged 60+ was up by 1.3 per cent over the past year to 22.3 per cent (at £701.30 vs £546.00)

For women, the average gross weekly earnings for those working full-time aged 50-59 were 8.5 per cent lower than those for women aged 30-39 (£473.90 vs £518.10 per week) whilst they were 17.4 per cent lower for those aged 60+ at £428.40 per week.

TAEN says the information reinforces the chances that the UK will not only see challenges under the age regulations to the national minimum wage from younger workers doing the same job as their older colleagues, but receiving less pay.

“We can also expect workers at the other end of the age spectrum to bring claims when they are being treated less favourably pay-wise than ‘prime age’ colleagues for doing the same, or similar, work,” warned a TAEN spokesperson.