The employment gap presented here for London is the percentage point difference between the employment rate for one group and that for another, comparative, group of London residents. The employment gap between London’s male and female working age residents is eight percentage points, as the percentage of London’s women aged 16-64 in employment is 71 per cent, while the equivalent employment rate for London’s men is 79 per cent. The London gender employment gap between men and women is larger than the UK gap, as the employment rate for women is lower to a larger extent in London than across the UK, while the male employment rate in London is lower to a smaller extent. At least some of this gap can be attributed to differences in employment levels between parents and those without dependent children. See the parental employment measure within the Equal Opportunities theme of Economic Fairness for further information.
The London employment gap by gender was reducing before the recession, and fell sharply during the pandemic, as the employment rate for women continued to rise, while the employment rate for men decreased, but as the male employment rate increased between 2021 and 2022, so did the gender employment gap. Between 2022 and 2023 in London, the employment rate for females fell by a smaller rate than the fall for males, thus reducing the gender employment gap.
The employment gap between disabled and non-disabled Londoners has continued to decrease, with a larger gap between disabled and non-disabled men (28 percentage points) than between disabled and non-disabled women (14 percentage points), although employment rates for disabled men and disabled women in London were similar.
The employment gap in London between White and ethnic minority groups combined has increased between 2022 and 2023, due to the employment rate having fallen much greater among ethnic minority groups than White groups in the last year. Across the UK, the employment rate of both ethnic minority people and White people grew very little in the last year, but the slightly higher growth rate among White people has led to a slightly increasing gap. There remain some significant gaps between the employment rates of White groups and some specific ethnic groups, most notably in London between White and Mixed ethnicity men and White and Black men (both 19 percentage points) and between White and Pakistani/Bangladeshi women (28 percentage points).
The characteristics of people working within the GLA group vary widely across the different organisations. The GLA publishes workforce reports on their website, which contain a range of employment statistics, while details for other GLA group organisations can be found on theirs.
