Women in Birmingham are far less likely than men to earn the national living wage.

Figures show 52,000 women working in our city earning below the government-set rate of pay.

That works out as 24 per cent of all women in jobs - or nearly one in four.

In comparison just 18 per cent of men working in Birmingham earn less than the national living wage.

It is a legal requirement that all employees pay the national living wage - currently set at £7.83 an hour - if they are aged 25 or over.

Many of the 52,000 women earning less than that Birmingham will be below that age threshold.

For employees aged 18-20 companies need only pay the national minimum wage of £5.90 an hour, a rate that rises to £7.38 for those aged between 21 and 24.

The national living wage is the equivalent to a salary of £16,286 for someone working 2,080 hours a year - which is typical for a full-time job.

There is also a third, optional living wage, that employers can pay staff called the the real living wage.

It is currently set at £8.75 an hour. That is the amount campaign groups say is necessary for people to actually be able to live, and works out as £18,200 a year for 2,080 hours.

Businesses with 250 employees or more were required to submit the data.

Tess Lanning, director of the Living Wage Foundation, said: “Women are more likely to work in jobs and occupations that are low paid – such as administrative, caring and cleaning roles.

“Women are also more likely to work part time due to their own caring responsibilities for children and family members, and part time jobs are more likely to be low paid.

“The basic test of fairness for any employer is whether they are paying their staff a wage that meets the basic costs and pressures of everyday life.

“To tackle in-work poverty we need more employers to join the movement of more than 4,700 living wage employers who have committed to pay the real living wage, not just the government minimum.

“There is also a particular problem in our country where the jobs and sectors that women have traditionally been more likely to work in are not valued.

“Caring for children and elderly and disabled people is one of the most important jobs in our society, and yet a significant proportion of people in this sector do not even earn a wage that meets their basic needs.

“The gap between the government minimum and the real living wage based on what people need to live is over £1 an hour, and more than £2.50 an hour in London.

"The number of jobs that pay less than the real living wage has gone up in the last year, to more than one in five of all jobs. That’s why we need to see more employers take a stand by committing to ensure their staff earn a wage they can really live on.”

Across the UK, 3.7 million women earn less than the national living wage, compared with 2.3 million men.

Despite the Equal Pay Act of 1970, women still earn less than men on average.

It means that, from Friday November 10 (Equal Pay Day), women will essentially be working for free for the rest of the year.