Employers Hub | Australian gender pay gaps – they do exist

Overall, I like to think Australia is a pretty great place to live. We’ve got a high minimum wage and a great standard of living, an amazing climate, good quality healthcare, excellent education, and not to mention stunning beaches and adorable kangaroos. As with anything, there’s always room to improve. In Australia, unfortunately, gender pay gaps do exist. According to the government, the average full-time weekly earnings for women is $1,352.50, while the male average is $1,613.60. This makes for an average full-time gender pay gap of 16.2% in Australia.

In terms of the breakdown of states, ACT has the lowest gender pay gap at 10.7%, while the highest was in Western Australia at 23.9%.

Another eye-opening fact is that only 26.3% of agency reporting organisations conducted a gender pay gap analysis. Out of those, only 50.7% took action to address their gender pay gap.

So, what does this all mean? Yes, there’s evidence that Australia has gender pay gaps, but how does that impact the future of business?

I think it’s a massive selling point for businesses that have conducted a pay gap analysis and taken action. Personally, being female, seeing that they care enough to spend the time and efforts to ensure their workplace is a fair environment, this would give me a reason to believe that they are a forward-thinking culture that cares about their employees.

Considering that women comprise of 46.2% of all employees in Australia, it’s about time that the rest of the organisations get on board.

Here at Pulse Recruitment, we’re proud to report that females are not paid any less than males, and our bonus and promotion structure is consistent across the board. Earlier this year, our Managing Director Daniel Hale introduced a companywide Progression Plan which is very black and white. Essentially, it’s an even level playing field for all our consultants to reach their achievements.

If you’re looking to get more information on gender pay gaps in Australia, check out the Workplace Gender Equality Agency website.