Key facts

Mothers and worklessness

• Over 500,000 women in the UK want to work but cannot find a job to fit around the needs of their families.¹ 
• Two-thirds of women registered with Women Like Us are potential second earners. Most of these women cannot access employment support services because their partner is in work, and yet 80% of them live in the 40% most deprived neighbourhoods.²
• In London, 47% of mothers are not in work, compared to 35% across the UK.³
• Lone parents in London have a particularly low employment rate - 58% are not in work, compared to 45% in the rest of the UK.⁴  
• The exceptionally low employment rate for mothers in London can almost entirely be accounted for by low rates of part time work.⁵  

Child poverty

• Mothers not working is a key driver for child poverty, which affects 600,000 children in London alone.⁶  

Gender pay gap

• The part time gender pay gap is currently 36%.⁷  
• Women returners are likely to be overqualified, especially in low-skill occupational areas where part time jobs are more readily available.⁸  
• In London, the under-utilisation of women’s skills is particularly pronounced – rates of worklessness for mothers holding qualifications at NVQ Level 3 and above are approximately 7% higher than elsewhere in the UK.⁹

Shortage of quality part time jobs

• There are fewer part time jobs in London than elsewhere, and this difference cannot be accounted for by the sectors, occupations or size of firms in the capital.¹⁰  
• Almost half of part time jobs available in London are below the London living wage (£8.30).¹¹  
• Increasingly, employers are willing to offer part time working arrangements to retain existing staff. However, when it comes to recruitment, it appears that very few quality roles are offered on a part time basis. The issue is currently so off-radar that very little evidence is available.

Sources

1 Office for National Statistics
2 Women Like Us' own data
3 GLA Working Paper 45: Women in London’s economy - Update 2010
4 Labour Force Survey, 2008
5 HM Treasury, 2007
6 London Child Poverty Commission Legacy Report, 2010
7 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Office for National Statistics, 2010
8 Tomlinson, Olsen & Purdam, 2009, p.357 
9 Inclusion, 2010 
10 Harker, 2007 
11 GLA Economics (2009) A Fairer London: The 2009 Living Wage in London