Figures released by the government show that women are earning far less than men, whatever their stage of life.

Individual income statistics from the Women and Equality Unit reveal that the weekly median gross individual income for all women in 1999/00 was £125 – under half of the £256 for all men.

But this is a slight improvement on 1996/97, when women’s median weekly gross individual income as a proportion of that for men was 46%.

The findings reinforce Chartered Institute of Personnel Development figures showing that male graduates were twice as likely to earn a salary above £25,000 as their female counterparts.

The Equality Unit’s report – the second issue of an annual series – found that over 40% of all women had gross individual incomes of less than £100 per week in 1999/00, compared with less than one fifth of all men.

But men’s outgoings seem to be more than those of women. Almost half of all women had disposable individual incomes of less than £100 per week, compared with less than a quarter of all men.

Across all age bands, median individual incomes for women were less than those for men for all individual income measures. Median gross individual income was highest for women aged between 25 and 29 in 1999/00, £184 per week – 64% of that for men in the same age band. Median gross individual income was highest for men aged between 35 and 39, at £368 per week.

The data provide a means of comparing the income received by women with that received by men, either directly or in their own right. Individual income estimates cover all women and all men, whether living as couples or as single persons.

A summary of the report’s findings can be found on the COI website. You can read the report in full on the Women and Equality site.