The median gender pay gap for IT professionals stood at 12.9% in 2021 and has fallen to 8.2% in 2023. In other words, women now earn an average of 8.2% less than men in this field.
It is interesting to note that, as with some other industries, IT professionals saw the gender pay gap actually widen during 2020 and 2021 i.e. the ‘pandemic years’ although those figures will have been distorted by the number of people being furloughed during that period on 80% of their pay, largely women.
In real terms this means that the annual pay for men stands at £45,826 on average and £42,068 for women.
Likewise, the discrepancy in the North/South divide has also decreased. The North of England comprises the North West, North East, Yorks and Humber. The South includes London, South West and South East.
Standing at 13% in 2019, this reduced to 9% in 2022. In other words, IT professionals in the North earned 87% of their Southern counterparts in 2019 compared to 91% in 2022. The average annual pay in the North is now £43,135 and £47,433 in the South.
The pandemic is a factor here too – Integro believe that the increase in remote working during that period is a major factor in the narrowing of the North/South pay divide.
Regarding the gender gap, Christian Hickmott (Integro’s Managing Director) said “The tech sector has historically had a stubbornly wide gender pay gap but is now leading the way in adopting flexible working and is successfully driving its gender pay gap below the national average.”
What’s more, “Access to the London market and to the highest paying jobs has been geographically constrained. With a growing proportion of tech roles no longer requiring attendance in the office five days a week it has become much easier for top talent to compete for the hight paying jobs nationally.”
It’s interesting to note that the North has consistently surpassed the South when it comes to the growth of tech start-ups. Integro concludes that home-working enables people to base themselves in cities with a lower cost of living and this in turn has helped end London’s dominance when it comes to pay in the tech industry.
