Marketing's pay gap problem and recruitment challenges

Marketing has a big pay gap problem and for many people it's getting worse. Exclusive new data from Marketing Week’s 2025 Career & Salary Survey shows the marketing profession has an ethnicity pay gap for full-time workers of 13.3%, up sharply from 8.5% in 2024 – based on a sample 82.9% of whom identify as white. Marketing's gender pay gap has also widened. Female marketers are paid on average 17.8% less than their male peers. This figure is based on a sample of more than 3,500 marketers – 59.9% of whom are female – and is up on the 16% pay gap revealed in 2024. Analysis of the data also finds a socio-economic pay gap for full-time workers of 15.3%, flat compared to last year’s figure at 15.9%. Furthermore, 74% of the sample identify as middle-class, up on the 70.1% figure reported in 2024. On this week's podcast, deputy managing editor and head of insight Charlotte Rogers, managing editor Lucy Tesseras and senior reporter Molly Innes dig into what is causing these pay gaps to be so persistent. Meanwhile, marketing's recruitment challenges continue. From drawn out interview processes to ghosting and mental health pressures, the jobs wheel isn't turning as it used to and is having a detrimental impact on many. Listen to find out more.