Women in tech are being paid £3,000 per year less than men on average in the UK, according to research conducted by job marketplace Hired.
Its UK Tech Workplace Equality Report found women in UK tech are on average offered 4% less than men. Hired says that based on average UK tech salaries, women in tech earn £63,000 on average versus men who earn £66,000.
Often the gender pay gap stems from women being underrepresented in higher-paying roles, such as chief executives.
However, Hired found that 61% of the time men are offered higher salaries than women for the same role at the same company.
Hired analysed salary data from 30,000 interview requests and real job offers made to over 5,100 UK candidates, as well as conducting a survey of 1,329 UK tech workers.
While the tech gender pay gap has improved – last year it was 5% and in 2016 men in tech earned an average of £5,000 more than women – the UK has a larger pay gap than the US tech industry, which Hired puts at 3%. However, Glassdoor puts the US pay gap at 5.4%.
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By GlobalDataDespite recent improvements, just 18% of the tech workforce is female, according to Hired.
It’s not just women in tech who are being discriminated against
The tech sector has long had a diversity problem. According to Hired, 66% of UK tech workers are white. Just 3% are black, 6% mixed race and 17% Asian.
Globally, this lack of diversity has played a role in the creation of biased artificial intelligence systems, such as a healthcare algorithm found to be biased against black patients.
The report also found that a third of LGBTQIA+ people believe there is a wage gap between them and heterosexual people in tech.
A third of those that identified as being neurodiverse – having neurological differences such as dyslexia or autism – said that they have suffered discrimination at work. Half said they feel their needs are adequately supported in the workplace.
Gordon Smith, general manager, Europe, at Hired, said: “As a company that works closely with UK tech businesses, we know how hard many of these companies are working to tackle inequity and discrimination in the workplace.
“Our study sheds a light on the issue by showcasing that the overall landscape is in need of progress as the gender pay gap and discrimination against all minorities remains an issue that urgently needs to be solved.
“Our hope is that the UK tech industry is able to use our data to spark positive change and that companies continue to stay committed towards creating impactful change.”
Read more: Retraining key to increasing number of women in tech industry