The gender pay gap for female millennials, born between 1981 and 2000, rises from 5% in their 20s to 9% at the age of 30, according to research by the Resolution Foundation.
The research, which is based on analysis of Office for National Statistics (ONS) data and which forms part of the Resolution Foundation’s Intergenerational Commission, also found that female baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1965, experienced a gender pay gap of 16% in their 20s.
For women in the baby boomer generation, the gender pay gap increased to 21% when they were in their 30s, and 34% once they turned 40.
Women in generation X, born between 1966 and 1980, had a 9% gender pay gap in their 20s. This increased to 10% at the age of 30, and 25% by the age of 40.
Laura Gardiner (pictured), senior policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said: “Successive generations of women have benefitted from slow but steady progress in closing the gender pay gap. Young women today face relatively little disadvantage in terms of their pay packets compared to what their parents’ and grandparents’ generation faced.
“But while many millennial women haven’t experienced much of a pay gap yet, most probably will once they reach their 30s, when they start having children. What’s more, this pay penalty is big and long-lasting, and remains for younger generations despite the progress in early careers.
“As people continue to live and work for longer, it’s important that businesses, policy makers and civic society continue to focus on closing the gender pay gap at all ages, and for every generation. After all, small hourly pay gaps quickly grow into large lifetime pay penalties that can leave women hundreds of thousands of pounds worse off over the course of their careers.”