Progress in bridging the gender pay gap among the largest construction companies remains slow – and in some cases, it has widened.
The average difference in hourly rate between men and women working in the biggest construction firms when gender pay gap reporting began in 2017-2018 was 26.57%. Five years on, the average difference is just over three percentage points less at 23.49%.
The data relates to the top 10 UK construction companies by turnover as of July 2022. They are Balfour Beatty, Morgan Sindall, Wates, Keller, Mace, ISG, Tarmac, Kier, Amey and Morrison Water Services.
The companies that showed the greatest improvement were Mace and ISG, which closed the gap by 15 and 7 percentage points, respectively.
At the bottom, the pay gap widened at Amey, Morrison Water Services, Keller and Wates.
However, the data also showed that more women are in the top pay bands, even if numbers remain low. Mace again saw the greatest progress: in 2017-2018, women made up only 7% of the highest salaries, but in 2022-2023, the figure had risen to 30%.
Companies in England, Wales and Scotland with 250 or more employees have been required since 2017 to publish data on their gender pay gaps. The government makes this data available to the public in April.
