Male workers in the lower income bracket earn £12,709 on average per year – over £6,400 more than women. The gap is higher than the UK average and also £1,800 higher than the gap in Northern Ireland.
The gap widened in the last year, with it now being £143 higher than 2015.
The Scottish Conservatives have called on the Scottish Government to address the problem, firstly by ensuring that female employment growth matches that in the rest of the UK.
Scottish Conservative equalities spokeswoman, Annie Wells said:
“The gender pay gap in Scotland is already a concern, but the fact that it is getting worse amongst our lowest earners is deeply worrying.
“We now have the largest difference in earnings in the entire of the UK, and the SNP need to explain how they plan to address this inequality.
“With female employment growing at a far slower rate than the rest of the UK, it is clear that the SNP need to start creating the employment opportunities we need to start increasing female earnings.
“They have the economic levers at their disposal, so they now need to use them to prevent our economy continually lagging behind the rest of the UK .”