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The type of data that would enable the States of Guernsey to identify the island’s gender pay gap is not currently being collected, however plans are in place to start doing this in 2024.
It comes as Jersey announces its intention to tackle the island’s pay gap as “a matter of urgency”. Last year it was revealed that the pay gap between men and women working in government had increased from 18% to 24% in just two years.
In a statement the Jersey government said: “The Council of Ministers is committed to publishing the Island-wide gender pay gap data on an annual basis and will continue dialogue with business groups to understand how to encourage companies to adopt their own gender pay gap analysis voluntarily. Ministers will also discuss with business groups how a mandatory requirement might work.”
When asked if the States of Guernsey keeps figures on the gender pay gap the Data and Analysis team told Express they don’t currently collect data that allows them to reliably report on the gender pay gap within the Bailiwick.
“However, plans are in place that will enable us to do so from 2024 onwards,” the team continued.
“Related information can be found in the Annual eCensus report, within the section ‘Earnings by gender’, but this does not include the number of hours worked, and therefore does not provide a like-for-like comparison.”
While it’s unknown what Guernsey’s gap is, Deputy Louise Doublet in Jersey said their “pay gap is lower than the OECD average, and lower than the UK”. Despite this, “the Council of Ministers does not believe it is acceptable for Jersey to have a gap of that size, or any size” continued Deputy Doublet.
Express reached out to the President of Guernsey’s Chamber of Commerce, Diane de Garis, to find out how essential the metric of the gender pay gap is.
“At the moment we all know it is an issue, but we don’t have the facts. And I always like to look at the facts."
She said that the intention to accurately record the gap is very welcome: “There’s lots of things I would like fixed by today... 2024 is not that far off and that seems quite promising.
“Yes, I think we should've been doing this for a long time but I’m quite pleased to hear that it’s coming next year.”
She said the facts are essential, because at the moment, the gap is only a perceived one. “We know we have a reducing working population, but we also know we have a huge number of women not in work; especially in the 45 to 60 bracket - so there’s obviously a reason driving that.
“I think we need to document it and raise awareness of the issue. Understand what disparities there are and have discussions so we can try and address any inequalities.”
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