Women's employment has increased sharply from 56 per cent in 1971 to 70 per cent last year but women still earn on average 87 per cent of a man's hourly rate, according to a report published yesterday by the Office for National Statistics.

Labour Market Trends, which examines changes in the workplace during the past 35 years, found women were four times more likely than men to work in personal service occupations, such as hairdressing and childminding, and more than twice as likely to work in sales and customer service.