THE NUMBER of women working in the UK has hit a record 14.6 million nationally – and the South East is playing its part.

Employment Minister Priti Patel said: “In the South East there are 107,000 more women in work than five years ago. I believe passionately that women should have every opportunity to play a full and active role in the workplace, so am naturally delighted that the number of women in work has hit a record high.

“We’ve made great strides in turning around our economy over the past five years; now our job is to build on this through a further rise in employment of two million and three million more apprenticeships.”

With an overall employment rate of 73.7 per cent nationally and strong wage growth, the employment rate for women in the UK is now 69 per cent – the third highest of the G7 countries behind Germany and Canada, but above the USA, Japan, France and Italy.