Are you a mum who works part-time? If so, you could be getting stung by a pay penalty, according to new research.
Metro reports:
By the time a first child reaches the age of 20, mothers earn around 30% less on average than similarly educated fathers, said a report funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and published by the Institute of Financial Studies. Some of the gap is explained by mothers in part-time jobs or taking a break from work.
It seems many of us are missing out on pay rises associated with those in jobs with more experience, because part-time jobs, which best lend themselves to working around school hours, tend to have limited opportunities to progress accordingly.
Of course, none of this is new – the gender wage gap has been in existence since time immemorial but it's galling to think that part-time work for mums might not be the solution that many of us assume it to be.
The Mirror reports:
Helen Barnard, head of analysis at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: "It's just not right that we treat part-time workers as if they are less valuable than full-timers. The majority of women working part-time are mothers, who often work part-time so that they can also take care of children or other adults. But they pay a heavy price for trying to balance these two roles. The poverty rate for part-time workers is double that for full-time workers.
We'd like to hear your views on this piece of research. Do you work part-time and, if so, do you feel you're suffering a pay penalty? Or have you decided not to work part-time because of this or other factors?
Leave us a comment here or come and join the conversation over on our Facebook page.
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