Gender pay gap narrows as more women get degrees

But IFS analysis reveals average woman still earns 40 per cent less than average man

More women going to university is behind a slight narrowing in the earnings gap between men and women in the UK over the past 25 years, an analysis has shown.

A report published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies on 6 December said that the earning gap between men and women had narrowed by 13 percentage points in the past 25 years, of which 10 percentage points was down to the “rapid increase in women’s educational attainment”.