The gender pay gap between the full-time earnings of men and women in Australia is at its lowest level on record — 21.7%.
New data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) shows the gender pay gap narrowed by 1.1% over the year from April 2022 to March 2023.
It means, on average, men earned $26,393 more than women this year.
How is it calculated?
Australia has two ‘official’ measures of the pay gap between men and women. Both compare the full-time pay of men and women, regardless of the industry they work in.
The main difference is that one includes bonuses and other non-salary benefits, and one does not. This week’s update is for the gap with bonuses. It produces a larger gap than the other measure (13%), suggesting men get disproportionately high bonuses.
Both measures are at record lows.
Management roles
The WGEA says that a decline in the gender pay gap is driven by more women working in management roles. Of all managers, 42% are women — an increase of 1% from the previous year.
WGEA CEO Mary Wooldridge said an increased number of women in higher paying jobs means “we can expect to see the gender pay
gap continue to fall.”
However, men were overrepresented in executive roles, with about one woman to every four men.
Wooldridge said: “The number of women in CEO roles and on boards has stagnated.”
Less than 15% of employers have committed to growing the representation of women on their boards.
Pay gap by industry
The industries with the biggest gap between men’s and women’s pay are construction and finance/insurance.
The industries with the smallest gender pay gap are accommodation and food services, and education and training.
