Gender pay equality ends at 40

The Office for National Statistics released new figures yesterday on the gender pay gap in the UK. Among full-time employees, the gap is gradually coming down - now at 8.6 percent compared to 9.1 percent last year. As our infographic shows though, there are large differences across the age groups, with a stark change from the age of 40 onwards.

Up until the age of 40, pay for men and women in full-time positions is quite close to parity. For the age group 30-39 there is only a 0.8 percent difference in favour of men before this jumps up to 12.8 percent for people in their forties. Women over the age of 50 currently have it worst in the UK, with an average pay gap of over 15 percent.