WOMEN workers in Kirklees are lagging behind in the pay stakes, says a survey.

Figures from the GMB general union show that the average male full-time worker in the area gets £473.20 a week.

This contrasts with £356 for the average woman full-time worker - a difference of £117.20.

It means that, on average, women workers in Kirklees are paid just 75.2% of what the men earn.

Elsewhere in West Yorkshire, the average female worker in Leeds received 86.8% of the wages paid to men in the same city.

This falls to 79% in Bradford, 76.6% in Calderdale and 72.5% in Wakefield.

The gender pay gap for the UK stands at 75.5% - with average pay of £556.80 for men and £420.20 for women.

The GMB survey of council areas showed that the gender pay gap in Yorkshire and Humber was widest in north-east Lincolnshire, where the average woman gets just 63.6% of what a man receives.

The narrowest pay gap was in Barnsley, where women get 86.8% of the wages paid to men.