The Work Foundation at Lancaster University responded to Office for National Statistics figures on the impact of motherhood on monthly employee earnings and employment status. Alice Martin, Head of Research, the Work Foundation at Lancaster University commented:

“Today’s figures present the stark and unfair reality for working mothers in the UK.

“New data shows that five years after their first child, women’s monthly earnings are down by 42% (£1,051 per month), with average losses across the five years amounting to £65,000. Employment also falls sharply, with mothers up to 15 percentage points less likely to be in paid work 18 months after childbirth – this distance from the labour market compounds with each additional child.

“Government is aiming to ‘make work pay’ but women who become mothers face persistent and significant disadvantages in pay and progression. They are forced to trade job security and opportunities to manage early motherhood and ongoing childcare.

“Work Foundation research shows women are more likely than men to accept insecure jobs in lieu of flexibility to accommodate their caring role. In 2023, 28% of women workers were in severely insecure work – twice as many as men and an increase of 200,000 in a year.

“Nearly half (44%) of workers in insecure jobs remain stuck in them for several years with no chance to progress – this is particularly true in sectors in which women are over-represented such as health, social care, and retail. The result is that women are 1.2 times more likely than men to be on zero-hour contracts, which are common in these sectors.

“For many women paid work still competes with unpaid responsibilities at home. The Government has set a target for reaching 80% employment, however more than a quarter of working-age women (26.2%) remain economically inactive due to looking after a family or home, compared with just 5.7% of men.

“Addressing the motherhood penalty requires bringing parental leave policies into the twenty first century, ensuring both mothers and fathers get ample paid time off when they become parents – we should properly accommodate parenthood alongside work, not in spite of it.

“The government has pledged positive steps from making flexible working the default, to stronger protections for pregnant women and day-one paternity rights. But with childcare funding for children aged nine months plus only just rolling out and nurseries in some areas struggling to accommodate demand, there’s still a long way to go before mothers are on an equal footing.”