Closing gender pay gap will boost growth, Labour says
The Independent 2023-05-29 10:07:27 • 2 mins
Closing the gender pay gap will help boost Britain's flagging economy, Labour has said.
Writing for The Independent to mark the anniversary of the Equal Pay Act, deputy leader Angela Rayner suggested better wages could encourage women to return to work.
The opposition is pointing to figures showing 185,000 more women aged between 50 and 64 have become economically inactive since the beginning of the pandemic.
"The economy could be boosted by up to 7bn, were employment rates among this group to return to pre-pandemic levels," Ms Rayner said.
"Tackling the gender pay gap will help to secure the highest sustained growth in the G7."
