The Department of Education has published data that suggests women graduates are paid less than male graduates despite studying the same subject in the same year. Women graduating in Veterinary Science were faced with the widest gap, earning 50% less than their male counterparts the year after graduation.
However, the figures did not include earnings data for self-employed workers or mature students. In addition, the figures did not filter graduates by location and failed to factor in wider characteristics such as the socio-economic background of students.
The Department for Education (DfE) has also become the first government department to publish its gender pay gap and bonus pay gap data. According to the figures, the DfE has a 5.3% mean pay gap (the difference between the average salaries for men and women) and a 5.9% median pay gap. The figures are substantially lower than the UK national gender pay gap of 18.1%. The DfE has also reported a mean bonus pay gap of 0.8% and a 0.0% median bonus pay gap.
