Data from IPSE reveals men earn 43% more than women in self-employment proving that women are undervaluing themselves and charging lower hourly rates.
This doesn't just affect self-employed workers either, women are paid 8.3% less than men which is up from 7.7% in 2021.
Magnet Trade has investigated the growing gender pay gap for the most popular jobs in the trade industry.
WHAT WE DID:
To find out the gender pay gap for employed tradespeople in the UK, Magnet Trade analysed ONS data on average hourly pay, salary and the pay gap for each trade. Alongside this, they used data from IPSE to estimate the average pay gap and average salary for self-employed tradespeople.
KEY FINDINGS
- On average, the hourly rate for self-employed men is £23 compared to the £16 hourly charge for women.
- Self-employed electricians have the biggest hourly gender pay gap with women charging £18.54 compared to £26.51 for men on average.
- On average, self-employed tradeswomen would have to work five extra months per year to match a man’s salary across trade roles.
- For full-time employed people, the median hourly pay for women is £12.96 compared to £14.82 for men.
- Full time male vehicle technicians, mechanics and electricians earn 30% more than women.
THE AVERAGE GENDER PAY GAP FOR SELF-EMPLOYED AND EMPLOYED TRADESPEOPLE
With women earning 43% less than men in self-employed jobs, our estimates show that, for trade jobs, men charge £7 more an hour on average than women. In terms of the hourly rate, this is £23 for self-employed men compared to £16 for women on average.
For full-time trade employees, the average gender pay gap is 15% which is above the average of 8.3%. The pay gap could be due to women taking time out of their jobs or going part-time to look after their families.
|
Trade |
Male hourly salary |
Female hourly salary |
Difference £ |
|
Electrician |
£26.51 |
£18.54 |
£7.97 |
|
Plumbing |
£25.88 |
£18.10 |
£7.78 |
|
Joinery |
£25.73 |
£17.99 |
£7.74 |
|
Insulation |
£24.12 |
£16.86 |
£7.25 |
|
General construction |
£23.65 |
£16.54 |
£7.11 |
|
Bricklaying |
£23.37 |
£16.34 |
£7.03 |
|
Painter and decorator |
£23.31 |
£16.30 |
£7.01 |
|
Steel and timber frame erection |
£22.19 |
£15.52 |
£6.67 |
|
Surfacing contractors |
£21.85 |
£15.28 |
£6.57 |
|
Specialist trades |
£21.60 |
£15.10 |
£6.49 |
|
Plastering |
£21.12 |
£14.77 |
£6.35 |
|
Scaffolding |
£19.44 |
£13.60 |
£5.85 |
|
Roofing |
£19.21 |
£13.43 |
£5.78 |
Across all trades, on average, men earn 700K more across a working lifetime compared to women. In terms of yearly comparison, men earn £14K more in a year compared to women in the self-employed trade industry. Male electricians have the highest salary gap, earning on average £16,583 more than women in a year.
An average electrician's weekly salary according to Hudson Contract is £1,055 which is just over £50,000 a year. Due to an increase in demand for jobs, electricians are able to charge more meaning their wage is above the UK average.
Across the UK, self-employed male electricians charge £26.51 per hour compared to £18.54 for women. This is the highest hourly rate out of all trades with the second highest being male plumbers at £25.88.
It’s important to bear in mind that hourly rates could change depending on the type of job needed by the client and the area you live in. If it's a small job like fixing a light fitting in a kitchen then the majority of electricians will charge for half a day's work.
Women are hugely underselling themselves on hourly rates as they charge £16.30 p/h which is £7.01 less than men at £23.31. Research shows that 35% of women don't know what to charge for jobs which could suggest why they have lower hourly rates than men.
SELF-EMPLOYED MALE PLUMBERS EARN £7.78 MORE PER HOUR THAN FEMALES
With one of the highest average trade salaries, plumbers earn on average £53,824 a year. However, the pay gap between genders is high with females earning £18.10 compared to males £25.88 an hour.
|
Trade |
Women's salary per hour (median) |
Men's salary per hour (median) |
Pay gap |
|
Vehicle technicians, mechanics and electricians |
£9.76 |
£13.98 |
30% |
|
Electrical service and maintenance mechanics and repairers |
£12.21 |
£16.47 |
26% |
|
Other Skilled Trades |
£10.24 |
£13.31 |
23% |
|
Glass and ceramics makers,decorators and finishers |
£10.42 |
£13.01 |
20% |
|
Construction and building trades n.e.c. |
£10.72 |
£13.32 |
20% |
|
Skilled Metal, Electrical and Electronic Trades Supervisors |
£13.79 |
£17.09 |
19% |
|
Electricians and electrical fitters |
£12.83 |
£15.73 |
18% |
|
Construction and Building Trades Supervisors |
£14.51 |
£17.67 |
18% |
|
Building Finishing Trades |
£10.77 |
£13.07 |
18% |
|
Painters and decorators |
£10.77 |
£12.80 |
16% |
|
Electrical and Electronic Trades |
£13.85 |
£16.07 |
14% |
|
Construction Operatives |
£11.44 |
£13.25 |
13% |
|
Electrical engineers |
£22.56 |
£25.88 |
13% |
|
Construction operatives n.e.c. |
£11.15 |
£12.44 |
10% |
|
Electrical and electronic trades n.e.c. |
£14.80 |
£16.43 |
10% |
|
Construction and Building Trades |
£13.06 |
£14.00 |
7% |
This is also reflected in pay with the trade having the highest pay gap of 30%. On average, men charge £13.98 compared to £9.76 an hour for women. It would take women five extra months to gain the salary of their male counterparts.
There are 232,026 male electricians compared to 4,077 female electricians which is a difference of 227,949. With 104,000 new electricians needed by 2032, it shows more women are needed in this trade.
Despite the rising demand, female tradies must be aware of the pay gap. Male electricians on average charge £15.73 an hour compared to £12.83 an hour for female electricians which is an 18% pay gap.
|
Trade |
Women's salary per hour (median) |
Men's salary per hour (median) |
|
Plumbers & heating and ventilating installers and repairers |
£15.19 |
£15.45 |
|
Carpenters and joiners |
£14.26 |
£13.21 |
|
Bricklayer |
£14.38 |
£11.30 |
|
Roofer |
£12.50 |
£11.86 |
Carpentry is a skilled trade that involves working with wood to construct and repair day-to-day jobs like installing doors and flooring. It's in high demand with over 5,400 people searching for a ‘carpentry apprenticeship’ each month. According to About Apprenticeship research, our data is backed up as carpenters are forecast to have the largest rise in employment so it’s a great time to get into this trade.
Alongside this, across all the trades, these are the two jobs that have one of the most equal pay for full-time employees. Across both genders, the annual average salary for carpenters is £28,827. However, when looking into the gender pay gap, women earn more than men an hour: £14.26 to £13.21. For women thinking about starting this role, they can be confident knowing they should receive equal, if not more, pay.
However, there is still room for improvement as only 1.03% of carpenters are women (2,488) compared to 239,783 male carpenters.
|
Trade |
Number of Females in trades |
Percentage of females in trade |
|
Electrical and electronics technicians |
1,175 |
3.60% |
|
Vehicle technicians, mechanics and electricians |
1,561 |
0.81% |
|
Skilled metal, electrical and electronic trades supervisors |
1,840 |
4.65% |
|
Carpenters and joiners |
2,488 |
1.03% |
|
Electrical engineers |
2,741 |
6.21% |
|
Electronics engineers |
2,789 |
7.35% |
|
Electrical and electronic trades n.e.c. |
2,881 |
3.92% |
|
Plumbers and heating and ventilating engineers |
3,315 |
1.95% |
|
Electricians and electrical fitters |
4,077 |
1.73% |
|
Painters and decorators |
6,334 |
5.02% |
|
Construction operatives n.e.c. |
7,193 |
8.12% |
|
Construction and building trades n.e.c. |
10,191 |
4.17% |
|
Other skilled trades n.e.c. |
13,325 |
30.17% |
|
Construction project managers and related professionals |
18,426 |
20.41% |
Vehicle technicians, mechanics and electricians have the lowest representation of females in the workforce with 0.81%. Other trades see similar numbers of 1.95% (Plumbers), 1.03% (Carpenters) and 4.17% (Construction and building trades n.e.c.).
Construction project managers and related professionals have one of the highest percentages of women in the workforce with 20.41% (18,426).
When pricing up a job, you’ll need to consider different elements like cost of materials, time it takes to complete the project and years of experience. However, regardless of gender, you are the expert and should feel empowered to charge at least the industry standard rate for the work you do.
Don’t be afraid to show off your skills and hard work, from customer reviews and building an online presence to registering your services with credible sites and displaying your accredited qualifications. You’ve worked hard to get where you are, so don’t shy away from giving yourself a public pat on the back!
Despite women gaining the same qualifications as men, they are yet to receive pay equality. If you’re looking for full time employment in the trade industry, companies are encouraged to show salary ranges so you can negotiate your pay as well as structured interviews for recruitment to help stop unfair bias creeping in which helps close the gender pay gap.
However, with more people choosing to go down the self-employed route, it can be difficult to know what to charge so we’d encourage open discussion with other tradespeople as well as looking online at what people in your area charge. Alongside this, you can use our data report above to help inform your decision.
Remember, people are approaching you for the job so feel confident in your ability to charge your worth.
Whether you are new to construction or have been an expert for a while, we can help you get the best service and value you for the products you buy regularly, by applying for a trade account.
Methodology
Magnet Trade used ONS data for the gender pay gap of full-time employed trade jobs alongside average salaries and hourly pay.
We used data from Hudson Contracts to find salaries for self-employed workers. We're using the 43% freelance/contractor gender pay gap and applying that across all job types/industries. No data is available to show this per job type. The hourly rates are based on 8 hours per day, 5 days per week. Many trades may work longer hours than these, but the average UK 40 work week is being used across all job types/industries to allow them to be compared. The data doesn't contain a % of women for all trades. We've used the generic "Construction & other building trades" figure from ONS.
For working life figures and pay, we’ve used Europa.eu.
Google search data correct as of 9/08/2023.
