2017.11.2708:49:00UTC+00London Has Biggest Gender Pay Gap In The UK, ONS Data Shows

London has the biggest pay gap between male and female full-time workers in the UK, latest data from the Office for National Statistics showed Monday.

The gender pay gap in London barely changed in over two decades with the full-time women employees earning 14.6 percent less per hour than their male counterparts this year versus 15.1 percent in 1997, which was the narrowest regional figure then, the ONS analysis revealed.

The ONS said there were clear differences in earnings between men and women full-time workers. Northern Ireland was the only region where the pay gap was in favor of women as they earned 3.4 percent more than men. This has been the case since 2010, the agency added.

In Wales and Scotland, the gender pay gap narrowed over the last two decades.

Meanwhile, the gender pay gap has reversed in some places for part-time workers with women now earning more, on average, than men across all regions, the ONS said. Northern Ireland, London and Wales had the largest pay differences.

While the pay gap reversed in favor of women in the North East, the South East had the smallest difference.

In the South East, women earned just 3.1 percent more per hour than men versus 9 percent in 1997. This suggests that men's wages have grown quicker than women's in this area, the ONS pointed out.

Recent legislation requires all companies in the UK with more than 250 employees to publish the gender pay gap among their staff.

The public sector gender pay gap for full-time workers remained smaller than that of the private sector. However, the rate did not narrow much in the last two decades. Women earn 13.1 percent less per hour than men versus 13.5 percent in 1997.

The difference narrowed in the private sector to 15.9 percent from 23.8 percent two decades ago.