Gender pay gap in Australia falls to 13.8%

Australia’s national gender pay gap has fallen to 13.8%, a decline from 14.2% six months prior, marking the second lowest national pay gap in the last 20 years. 

The full-time wage gap between male and female workers in the country amounted to A$255 (US$184) per week, showed data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics from mid-November, before the emergence of the Omicron variant. 

Previously, the lowest national pay gap registered was 13.4% in Nov 2020. 

“Any time we see the pay gap decline, it is a welcome sign that the labour market is moving in the right direction,” said Mary Wooldridge, Director of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

“Throughout the pandemic, we know women stepped back from the workforce as they took on more of the caring load. At the point in time of this new national pay gap data, it was a period of relative stability and economic recovery which saw increased labour force participation by both women and men,” Wooldridge added. 

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“Australian employers must do more than pay lip service to gender equality on one day of the year. This is something that needs dedicated focus, sustained commitment, and, most importantly, action to continue improving the policies that we know make a difference,” she noted.