Midlands women paid £90 a week less than men

Data from the Office for National Statistics' annual Survey of Hours and Earnings show the widening pay gap between the sexes across the region.

On average men who work full time take home gross pay of £507.60, a total of £87.78 more than female workers.

The figures show that the gap is greatest in Staffordshire, where men earn a whopping £119.10 a week more than women.

They also reveal that women in Wolverhampton are in the bottom two per cent of earners in the country, picking up an average of £379.10 compared to men who take home £465.40.

An area breakdown of women's weekly average salary and the percentage increase or decrease from the year before:

• UK; £471.20; 2.1 per cent

• Dudley; £446; 6.9pc

• Sandwell; £417.30; 7pc

• Walsall; £421.80; 5.9pc

• Wolverhampton; 379.10, -2.5pc

• Staffordshire; £434.90; 2.5pc

• Region; £419.82; 4.17pc

And the gap has widened over the last 12 months according to the figures, with men's wages increasing more than 0.5 per cent above those of women.

The difference flies in the face of the national trend, which shows that in April women's wages were 9.4 per cent below those of men, compared with 10 per cent the previous year.

Trade Union bosses have described the figures as 'shocking' and say some areas in the region are 'going backwards' when it comes to bridging the gender pay gap.

Nick Kelleher, secretary of the Wolverhampton and Bilston TUC, said: "Wolverhampton council has made progress over the last few years in terms of reducing the pay gap between men and women.

"But unfortunately because of public sector cuts a lot of jobs have now gone into the private sector. In an area such as care, which traditionally employs predominantly women, this means lower wages.

"It's shocking to see we now appear to be going backwards."

Across the country, the median weekly pay for all full-time employees was £527.70, up by 1.8 per cent from 2014. It was £53.92 less across the Black Country and Staffordshire at £473.78. Walsall saw the biggest rise across the region, with workers earning £475.90, almost eight per cent more than the previous year.

In Dudley the annual increase was six per cent, up to £499.40, while in Sandwell wages went up by 4.3 per cent to £453.

Staffordshire workers saw a 1.5 per cent rise to £506.40. The only local authority to see wages fall in the West Midlands was Wolverhampton. Full time employees took home an average weekly wage of £434.20 in April, a drop of 1.3 per cent over the year.

Mr Kelleher said the situation was likely to get worse when the Government's proposed cuts to tax credits come to fruition.

"Every household in the West Midlands will lose £1,340. So while these figures are bad the position is going to be exacerbated."

He added: "There has been positive news regarding employment statistics, but in Wolverhampton a lot of highly skilled jobs have gone and been replaced by lower paid jobs. As a result people have less money to spend in the shops. It is a downward spiral."

The figures also showed the changes in wages for different professions over the year.

The biggest gainers were people in sales and other jobs serving customers, who had an average pay rise of 3.8 per cent. This took their median full time wage to £345 a week. People working in professional occupations – such as lawyers, engineers and teachers – received the lowest pay rise, getting 0.8 per cent on average.