More than 100,000 more women employed in South East

The number of women in employment has hit a record 14.6million nationally – and the South East is playing its part with over 107,000 more women in work than five years ago.
News. Photo: ShutterstockNews. Photo: Shutterstock
News. Photo: Shutterstock

The employment rate for women in the UK is now 69 per cent – the third highest of the G7 countries behind Germany and Canada, but above the USA, Japan, France and Italy.

Employment minister Priti Patel said: “I believe passionately that women should have every opportunity to play a full and active role in the workplace, so am naturally delighted that the number of women in work has hit a record high.

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“The South East is playing its part with 107,000 more women in work than five years ago.

“With nearly one million more women in work nationally than there were in 2010, fewer people claiming benefits and wages now rising steadily, it’s clear that our effort to transform Britain into a higher wage and lower welfare society is working.

“We’ve made great strides in turning around our economy over the past five years; now our job is to build on this through a further rise in employment of two million and three million more apprenticeships.”

With a record overall employment rate of 73.7 per cent nationally and strong wage growth, the government claims it is delivering on its promise to create a fairer welfare state where work pays and people are rewarded for doing the right thing.

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Minister for women and equalities Caroline Dinenage said: “We promised to make our economy more inclusive, by removing barriers that stop women from participating in our workforce and that is exactly what we have done.

“The facts speak for themselves - we have more women in work than ever before, over 25 per cent of boards are now made of women and the gender pay gap is the lowest on record.

“But that doesn’t mean we stop and pat ourselves on the back. We need to continue to push this work forward.

“That is why we will be requiring employers with at least 250 employees to publish gender pay gap and bonus information, reviewing how we can get more women into executive positions and ensuring that young women and girls are inspired and have the opportunity to reach their full potential.”

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Overall, two million more people are in work than in 2010, bringing the total to 31.2million.

Over the same period, unemployment has dropped by 760,000, of which nearly 200,000 were women.

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