The Gender Pay Gap Has Slammed Into Reverse

The gender pay gap has been slammed into reverse…by driving instructors.

Women instructors are making £25.84 per hour – which is £1.37 an hour more than their male counterparts.

They have reported a rise of nearly 11 per cent in their hourly rate price and a year-on-year weekly gross income rise of nearly 20 per cent, our research at RED Driving School has found.

That represents an increase in weekly earnings of £123.10 a week, taking total weekly earnings to £754.53 on the average woman instructor’s working week of 29.2 hours.  Male instructors work an average week of 29.4 hours, but still earn £35 per week less than the women instructors working the slightly shorter week.

With average pay for full time female employees in the UK 9.4 per cent lower than male workers, the anomaly of driving instructors stands out in an era dominated by the gender pay gap.

Ian McIntosh, CEO of RED Driving School, said: “It’s a fascinating phenomenon and we are so pleased that the industry has turned the national trend on its head. At RED, only around 22% of instructors are female, which is in line with the national average in the industry.

“It seems that the issue of supply and demand is pushing up female instructor’s wages; the ratio of male to female learners is 50:50, but we find that a lot of females prefer to learn with a woman, either for social or cultural reasons. There are also many males who find that they actually respond better to a female instructor, too.”

At RED, we have concluded from the report that being able to choose their own hours was a major factor which influenced many to become a driving instructor. For many women, juggling childcare arrangements this flexibility was especially key, with most women with children still being the primary caregiver.

Women driving instructors are working an average of 29.2 hours per week in comparison to their male counterparts’ 29.4 hours – and still come out on top financially despite the slightly shorter working week.

Driving instructors of both genders also perform well in relation to other driving jobs, too, coming out ahead of delivery drivers, courier drivers, bus drivers and HGV drivers and RED Driving School are ahead of Uber drivers in terms of gross earnings.

This is reflected well in terms of job satisfaction, with 93% of driving instructors describing themselves as being satisfied with their job.