Yahoo Finance Women in jobs hit a record high
THE PROPORTION of women employed in the UK has struck another all-time record high, as the workplace gender gap continues to narrow.
In the three months to February, the proportion of women aged 16 to 64 in the UK who are employed rose 0.5 percentage points to 67.6 per cent. The figure brings women within 10 percentage points of men, of whom 77.6 per cent were employed during the same period.
Released yesterday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the numbers mark a clear turnaround over the past few decades. At the start of the 1970s, just over half (52.8 per cent) of British women were employed, compared to 92.1 per cent of men.
As recently as 2012, fewer than two-thirds of women were employed, yet the number has steadily risen in the recovery.
However, the number of women working full-time still trails behind. In the latest three-month period measured by the ONS, there were 8.09m women working full-time, compared to 14.12m men.
A far greater number of women are working part-time, the data shows. In December to February the number of women working part-time rose 65,000 to reach 6m, while men in part-time positions climbed 9,000 to just 2.17m.
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