Today, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) has released median gender pay gap data for Australian private sector employers with 100 or more employees. A breakdown of the gender pay gap amongst private sector companies gives a greater insight into the inequalities faced by women in various industries, while also holding these high-profile organisations to account. The gender pay gap is different to equal pay for equal or comparable work.
This is the second year WGEA has released this data, as required by the amendments to the Workplace Gender Equality Act passed in 2023. It has also published – for the first time – employers’ average gender pay gap, which includes CEO remuneration (that the median doesn’t).
In the 2023-24 gender pay gap results, nearly 3 in 4 (72%) of all employers have a gender pay gap in favour of men. WGEA states that 56% of employers improved their gender pay gap in the last 12 months, and 79% of employers still have a gender pay gap outside the target range of +/-5%.
It’s important to acknowledge that the average gender pay gap data can’t be compared to the data we were provided last year (as there was no average gender pay gap data published then). This is why year-on-year comparisons need to be made between median data of 2023-24, and the median data published last year for 2022-23.
How is the gender pay gap actually calculated?
This year WGEA has published:
- median total remuneration employer gender pay gaps
- median base salary employer gender pay gaps
- gender composition by pay quartile
- average total remuneration employer gender pay gaps (new)
- average base salary employer gender pay gaps (new)
- average remuneration by pay quartile (new)
There are a couple of factors taken into consideration by WGEA when calculating the median gender pay gap and the new average gender pay gap data, and it’s all very dependent on remuneration information provided by the employers themselves in the 2023-24 Employer Census.
This year WGEA has published the results for 7,800 individual employers and 1,700 corporate groups.
What this means is that Aussies working for a company that’s part of a bigger corporate group can access both the group and individual employer’s gender pay gap for the first time. For example, an employee working at Target can access both their employer Target’s gender pay gap, as well as the pay gap of Wesfarmers, which is the corporate group.
Median gender pay gap versus average gender pay gap
WGEA states that the median gender pay gap is “the middle figure in a list of employees’ wages when the list is ordered from smallest to largest”. Meanwhile, the average “is calculated by adding up a list of employees’ wages and dividing by the number of employees in the list”.
“The median gender pay gap is the difference between the median of what a man is paid and the median of what a woman is paid within an organisation. Unlike the average, the median is not skewed by extreme values at either end,” states WGEA.
In calculating the gender pay gap, part-time and casual salaries are converted into annualised full-time equivalent earnings.
This year, the data includes remuneration for CEOs, Heads of Business, and Casual Managers for the first time. WGEA considered these figures following legislative changes. It’s also a useful measure because not only is CEO remuneration often much higher than other employees’ salaries, but the CEO position is also predominantly held by men.
“Therefore, CEO salary will have a significant effect on an employer’s average gender pay gap,” states WGEA.
“In contrast, a median gender pay gap is not as heavily impacted by outliers, such as CEO remuneration.”
Remuneration gender pay gap versus base salary gender pay gap
The base salary of an employee wages, penalty rates and shift and leave loading. In this instance, annualised and full-time equivalent amounts have been used for reporting.
According to WGEA, total remuneration is the full earning capacity of an employee – and again, annualised and full-time equivalent amounts have been used for reporting.
Total remuneration is base salary, superannuation, overtime, bonuses and other additional payments. This means it gives a more accurate picture of the remuneration differences between women and men in an organisation. The following payments are considered in the calculation of total remuneration: their entire base salary (annualised and full-time equivalent), allowances, bonus pay, cashed-out annual leave, company car payments, discretionary pay, overtime, non-financial benefits (gym memberships, counselling etc.), sales commissions, superannuation, and any other payments made to the employee in cash or any other forms.
What are the national median and average gender pay gaps this year?
Nationally, for every $1 a man earns, women earn 78 cents on average. This adds up to a yearly difference of $28,425. National gender pay gap figures show:
Median total remuneration employer gender pay gap: 18.3% which means that over the course of a year, the median of what a woman is paid in total remuneration is $18,835 less than the median of what a man is paid.
Average total remuneration employer gender pay gap: 21.8% which means that over the course of a year, the average of what a woman is paid in total remuneration is $28,425 less than the average of what a man is paid.
Median base salary employer gender pay gap: 13.6% which means that over the course of a year, the median of what a woman is paid in base salary is $11,410 less than the median of what a man is paid.
Average base salary employer gender pay gap: 16.7% which means that over the course of a year, the average of what a woman is paid in base salary is $17,221 less than the average of what a man is paid.
What are the median and average gender pay gaps by industry?
The mid-point marks the halfway point of employer gender pay gaps within a group. That means 50% of employers will have a gender pay gap lower than this point, and 50% of employers will have a gender pay gap higher than this point. The following gender pay gap figures are based on industry mid-points provided on the WGEA Data Explorer here.
Of the 19 industry categories listed, the five industries with the largest median total remuneration gender pay gaps (based on industry mid-point) are:
- Construction: 26.3%
- Financial and Insurance Services: 22.2%
- Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services: 20.4%
- Mining: 19.9%
- Rental, Hiring and Real Estate services: 16.2%
Meanwhile, Public Administration and Safety has the lowest at 0.7%.
Of the 19 industry categories listed, the five industries with the largest average total remuneration gender pay gaps (based on industry mid-point) are:
- Construction: 25.3%
- Financial and Insurance Services 22.2%
- Rental, Hiring and Real Estate services: 21.2%
- Mining: 19.8%
- Professional, Scientific and Technical Services: 17.4%
Meanwhile, Public Administration and Safety has the lowest at 2.1%.
Of the 19 industry categories listed, the five industries with the largest median base salary gender pay gaps (based on industry mid-point) are:
- Financial and Insurance Services: 20.3%
- Construction 19.7%
- Mining: 17.9%
- Professional, Scientific and Technical Services: 14.1%
- Electricity, Gas Water and Waste Services: 12.1%
Meanwhile, Public Administration and Safety has the lowest at 0%, followed by Health Care and Social Assistance at 0.4%.
Of the 19 industry categories listed, the five industries with the largest average base salary gender pay gaps (based on industry mid-point) are:
- Construction: 20%
- Financial and insurance services: 19.2%
- Mining: 16.6%
- Professional, Scientific and Technical Services: 15.3%
- Rental, Hiring and Real Estate services: 15.1%
Meanwhile, Public Administration and Safety has the lowest at 1.5%.
What are the median total remuneration gender pay gaps in major Australian companies?
In order to show you year-on-year comparisons, we’ve only referred to median total remuneration pay gap data in reporting the below.
When it comes to some of the big players in tech, the gender pay gaps include:
- Atlassian: 15.6% (Down from 18.1% last year)
- Canva: 12% (Up from 10.8% last year)
- Google: 14.5% (Down from 14.9% last year)
- Uber: 7.3% (Up from 6% last year)
- WiseTech: 19.9% (Down from 24% last year)
- Xero: 12.9% (Up from 11.4% last year)
For the Big 4 accounting firms, the gender pay gaps are:
- Deloitte: 14.5% (Down from 16.7% last year)
- EY: 15.6% (Up from 15.4% last year)
- KPMG: 11.4% (Down from 13.7% last year)
- PricewaterhouseCoopers aka PwC: 7.3% (Up from 3.9% last year)
Four well-known consulting companies have the following gender pay gaps:
- Accenture: 16% (Down from 17.5% last year)
- Bain: 30.7% (Up from 30.6% last year)
- Boston Consulting Group: 34.1% (Down from 35% last year)
- McKinsey: 33% (Down from 38.3% last year)
In banking, these companies had the following gender pay gaps:
- ANZ: 21.1% (Down from 23.1% last year)
- Commonwealth Bank: 27.8% (Down from 29.9% last year)
- ING Bank: 29.5% (Down from 32.2% last year)
- NAB: 18% (Down from 18.8% last year)
- Westpac: 29.3% (Up from 28.5% last year)
Some of the major law firms fared as follows:
- Maurice Blackburn: 31.4% (Up from 30.7% last year)
- MinterEllison: 17% (Down from 18.6% last year)
- Clifford Chance: 8.1% (Down from 25.7% last year)
- Herbert Smith Freehills: 8.1% (Down from 15.6% last year)
In the aviation industry:
- Jetstar: 43.6% (Down from 43.7% last year)
- Qantas: 29% (Down from 37% last year)
- Virgin: 35.8% (Down from 41.7% last year)
And when it comes to sport, here are some gender pay gap figures in AFL that we found interesting:
- Collingwood: 16.9% (Down from 44% last year)
- Fremantle: 21.7% (Down from 33.9%)
- Geelong: 13.6% (Down from 25% last year)
- Hawthorn: 15.8% (Up from 2% last year)
- Melbourne: 18.5% (Down from 19.2% last year)
- Port Adelaide: 14.1% (Up from 9.8% last year)
- Richmond: 14.1% (Up from 12.5% last year)
- Sydney Swans: -19% (Compared to -4.3% last year)
- St Kilda: 17.7% (Up from 8.2% last year)
What are negative, positive and neutral gender pay gaps?
Negative gender pay gap: Employers with pay gaps below -5% pay the ‘median woman’ more than the ‘median man’. These gaps are described as ‘in favour of women’.
Positive gender pay gap: Employers with a gender pay gap above +5% pay the ‘median man’ more than the ‘median woman’. These gaps are described as ‘in favour of men’.
Neutral gender pay gap: Gender pay gaps within and including –5% and +5% are considered neutral, meaning they do not significantly favour either women or men.
WGEA found that:
- 6.5% employers have a gender pay gap that favours women (<-5%)
- 21.3% employers have a neutral gender pay gap (within and including-5 and +5%)
- 72.2% employers have a gender pay gap that favours men (>+5%)
In its newly-released data, the federal government agency compares employer gender pay gaps by industry, by the proportion of women in leadership, by whether employers operate in a men-dominated, gender-balanced or women-dominated industry and by the size of the employer.
What are the employer gender pay gaps based on men versus women dominated industries versus gender balanced industries?
When looking at the employer gender pay gap based on whether industries are men or women dominated, WGEA found:
- 50% private sector employers have a gender pay gap higher than 12.1%
- 50% private sector employers in women‐dominated industries have a gender pay gap higher than 5.5%
- 50% private sector employers in gender-balanced industries have a gender pay gap higher than 13.2%
- 50% private sector employers in men‐dominated industries have a gender pay gap higher than 16.1%
