Equal Pay Day 31 August 2018

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) is reporting that the national gender pay gap is at a 20 year low of 14.6% for full-time employees.

WGEA has calculated that national gender pay gap based on Average Weekly Earnings data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This is a difference of $244.80 per week. This means that women will have to work for 62 additional days from the end of the financial year to earn the same pay as men!!

The WGEA collects pay data annually from non-public sector organisations with 100 or more employees. The data includes superannuation, bonuses and other additional payments. They report that the ‘full-time total remuneration’ gender pay gap is 22.4% meaning men working full-time earn nearly $26,527 a year more than women working full-time.

Ms Libby Lyons (Director WGEA) said that “Equal Day Pay is still an important reminder that women continue to face significant barriers in the workplace, particularly in terms of pay.” She said that “The gender pay gap is a symptom of a broader issue. It reflects the fact that women’s work is traditionally undervalued and women are often paid less than men. Average full-time salaries are lower for women than men in every occupation and industry in Australia. Women are under-represented in senior executive and management roles and female-dominated occupations and industries attract lower pay than male-dominated ones,”

The WGEA also reports that the average gender pay gap between women and men working full-time generally increases with age up to its highest point for the 45-54 age group. Women in this age group are more likely than men to have spent time out of the workforce to care for children. As a result of the extra time women spend in unpaid care work, they have fewer promotion opportunities.

Ms Lyons said that “We need to continue to break down the barriers that contribute to the gender pay gap” and encouraged people to join the conversation on social media using #EqualPayDay #RemoveTheBarriers

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