WOMEN managers in Wales are effectively working for free for nearly an hour every work day, That’s according to new data on the gender pay gap by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).

For men and women of all ages and in all professional roles in Wales, the gender pay gap now stands at £3,188, with men earning an average of £25,452 and women earning £22,264.

The findings are the result of an annual survey of 72,000 UK managers, published by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and salary specialist XpertHR.

The survey reveals that women working in equivalent full-time roles in Wales earn 13 per cent less than men, meaning that they are unpaid for 59 minutes a day – a total of 34 working days every year.

Commenting on the findings of the CMI report, South Wales East AM William Graham said: “These findings are alarming and highlight just how much work still needs to be done, despite limited progress having been made.

“As a matter of principal It is clearly unacceptable for one colleague to be paid significantly less than a co-worker purely on the basis of their gender.

“Clearly that needs to be sorted, but we also need to see more of the biggest companies in the UK taking pro-active steps to ensure that female employees are given the same opportunities to progress into senior executive roles.

“This is a timely reminder of the need to tackle pay inequality in Wales and I look forward to a constructive response from major employers in bringing this item to the top of the agenda.”