6. Will the Minister make a statement on the Government’s strategy for improving labour market outcomes for women? OQ58707

I set out a range of actions within the employability and skills plan to maximise fairness and eliminate inequality. This includes improving labour market outcomes for women.

Thank you, Minister. Women from all parts of Wales marched recently to ensure changes in working practices that create a disadvantage for mothers. And the Minister will be aware of the new report by Chwarae Teg, which demonstrates that the gender pay gap continues to be high, at 11.3 per cent this year. At almost 30 per cent, the gap is widest in Neath Port Talbot, in the region that I represent—an increase of 9.1 per cent since last year. Men earn more than women in 15 local authority areas in Wales. The gender pay gap for full-time employees has increased in Wales from 4.9 per cent to 6.1 per cent. As you've mentioned, mention of the closure of multiple wage gaps is made in the Government's employability and skills scheme. So, can the Minister outline what actions are in place to close the gender pay gap, because things clearly aren't going in the right direction at the moment? And what is the Minister doing to ensure that the current strategy to close the gender pay gap takes into account the disproportionate impact of the cost-of-living crisis on working women? Thank you.

I regularly reflect back on my time before coming to the Senedd, and the groups of people that I represented, including lots of women in equal pay claims, and understanding that, even in organised workplaces there are inequalities in pay outcomes, and some of those are structural and are about discrimination within the pay system. And then you have the broader challenge, of course, that part-time workers still receive less pay than full-time workers, and part-time workers are disproportionately women. So, I recognise there's a whole range of structures.

The Government has a role in doing something about it. Some of that is in the leadership space, in being clear about the fact that this is issue and then setting out some of the things we'll do, both in the intervention we want to make in the labour market and getting more people to be economically active, but then also in equipping those people to gain access to better paid work. That's both the skills training, but it's also some of the points that Julie Morgan has been outlining about the childcare offer and the expansion of that as well, to give practical access to people to paid work opportunities and for childcare to be affordable. So, it's a wide range of different measures that are required to genuinely transform and to tackle pay gaps, consistent action to transform organisational structures, policy and outcome. 

It also requires the private sector to play their part too. We don't have all of the legal responsibilities in this area, but, as I say, I think the leadership role we have really does matter, and that's why we profile people who do the right thing when it comes to the reward of their workforce and recognise the fact that everyone should be paid fairly. It's also, therefore, about why fair work isn't just something that goes into trade union representation and organisations. It's all of those things and the sorts of companies that we want to work with, and it's part of the requirement we expect of people who want support from the public purse here in Wales.

I thank my colleague for raising this question. The pandemic had a significant impact on the economic well-being of women. We know that, on average, women tend to earn less, have fewer savings, work more in the informal economy and make up the majority of single-parent households. If we are to refocus our attention on the outcomes for women in work, how does your strategy reflect the learning from the pandemic, which exposed some significant challenges and risks?

I think, actually, the pandemic made things harder. I think it saw a retrenchment back in many family and community groups where women took on more of the caring role and less of the economic activity role. That's taken us back. In my own family, we had real challenges at the time with home schooling, but it was part of my job to do some of that as well. I couldn't simply say, 'My job is more important than my wife's, so she needs to take care of our son.' He's my son too. And so, actually, it is about how we share those responsibilities, but I recognise the broader position has made it more difficult.

I think this is one of the points that Sioned Williams made about recognising some of the challenges in the differential impact of not just the pandemic, but the cost-of-living crisis as well. And our real challenge is not just understanding what the narrative and what the problem is, but the levers we have available to us. The changes that will be made tomorrow will undoubtedly have an impact. Because the unavoidable reality is that, if you're going to see a move back in the real-terms benefit of support that families are provided through the tax and benefits system, it will make this harder and a bigger hill to climb. So, leadership, but also choices, and who we get to work with, will be crucial parts of making this a reality, and not simply something we talk about and say we're all committed to in theory.