A new pay study reveals full-time, male personnel, training and industrial relations managers are taking home an average annual income of £62,461, which is just over double that of the UK average take-home wage of £29,999.

By comparison, women doing the same job earned just £45,029 – a whopping percentage difference of 58 per cent – proving that male HR workers are racing ahead of their female colleagues in the pay stakes.

The gender pay divide exists at all HR levels, according to the figures. Male personnel officers’ industrial relations earned £35,028 whilst their female equivalents earned £25,18. That is an average salary difference of £9,845 in favour of the men. The difference in percentages is 33 per cent.

Paul Maloney, GMB national officer, said: “These official figures show that the gender pay gap for HR managers is double the UK average gender pay gap. The figures prove that there is institutional sex discrimination in the profession which is charged with the responsibility, by law, to close the gender pay gap.”

The GMB analysed data from the April 2007 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings from the Office of National Statistics.

In November, HR Zone reported on an HR pay survey that revealed the level of pay for HR directors.