Earnings inequality

Earnings inequalities in the North East 

There is significant variation in gross weekly earnings across the North East, both when looking at all workers and only those who are employed full time. Differences with the national average however, are generally more pronounced at the higher end of the earnings scale. The median gross weekly earnings for full time employees in 2022 was 90% of the England value, but only 85% at the 90th percentile.

This generally also holds true when comparing earnings in the North East to other Core Cities areas. The median in the North East is the second lowest among the Core Cities areas, but the 75th percentile is the lowest of all the Core Cities and significantly behind several other cities. 

Over time the gross weekly earnings of the 25th percentile have been growing more quickly than the 75th percentile, which has meant that inequality in earnings in the region has slowly been decreasing. Since 2014 earnings growth has been marginally quicker in England than in the North East.

Gender earnings gaps in the North East 

The gender pay gap measured using the median females’ proportion of the median males’ earnings has been decreasing in the North East over time. The female percentage of male earnings for full time employees was 87% in 2022 compared to 83% in 2014, while for all employees it was 73% in 2022 compared to 65% in 2014 (Female employees are more likely to work part time).

The gender pay gap is also slightly smaller on this measure in the North East than the English average. Based on the residence of workers some local authorities had gender pay gaps of less than 10% for full time workers, including Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside and Sunderland. This is likely linked to the industrial composition of these area.
 

Ethnic pay gaps

There are also pay gaps by ethnicity in the North East and most other regions. Average hourly pay for those of white ethnicity in the North East was £10.93, compared to £9.89 for all other ethnicities in the region. This means that the average hourly pay of white ethnicities in the region was 9.5% higher than all other ethnicities.

The ethnicity pay gap in the North East in percentage terms was the third highest of the English regions in 2019. The largest pay gap by far was in London, where white pay was 23.8% higher than that of all other ethnicities. There was a negative gap of -8.6 in the East of England.