Women trail in pay stakes

Female blue collar workers are bottom of the pay scale

Dressmaking is the UK's worst-paid job according to the 2002 earnings survey from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Female manual workers are at the bottom of the pay ladder while male office workers come out best.

In fact the ONS figures highlight the big gap between the pay received by men and women.

Unsurprisingly, the highest paid jobs were in the City but even here woman trailed men badly in the pay stakes.

White collar increase

As for the gap between white-collar and blue-collar pay, last year it got wider providing further evidence of the problems facing UK manufacturing.

Male white-collar workers saw their incomes rise by £28 ($44.5) on average while those working in blue collar jobs saw their pay increase by just £8.

In total, male white-collar workers earn on average £610 a week, whereas their blue-collar counterparts earn just £364 a week.

However, white-collar female workers earn an average of £405, with female blue-collar employees earning just £251.

Bottom rung

Britain's worst-paid full time job is officially dressmaking. Women in this field earn £212.40 per week with men faring only a little better, earning £257.50 per week.

The highest paid job is brokerage, mainly concentrated in the City, and men in this sector earn £1,018.

However, it seems, the difference in male and female wage rates is at its most acute at the top of the pay scale as female brokers earn £516.40 a week little more than half the level of their male counterparts.