Catherwood LibraryILR School

The English Office for National Statistics (ONS) has just reported that women make up 246,000 of the 317,000 hires which have taken place over the past year, revealing that British women comprise an overwhelming majority of the recent boom in employment in the midst of a surge in national focus on gender equality in the workplace. Following the enactment of new labor regulations that require all businesses with over 250 employees to report any gender wage gap in their organization to the government, statistics are proving more than ever the importance of female workers to the English economy. Another discovery made by the ONS was that women account for more than 80 percent of the 94,000 jobs created between June and August, with the figure of currently employed women having nearly reached a record high. However, women are still in the large majority of British individuals who are unemployed due to familial or home obligations, indicating that gender roles still persist for some.