For the first time in 20 years, the gap between women’s and men’s wages in the Australian workforce has fallen below 15%.

Using the latest Average Weekly Earnings data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Federal Government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) has calculated the national gender pay gap as 14.6% for full-time employees, a difference of $244.80 per week.

As a result, WGEA’s ‘Equal Pay Day’ will be on Friday 31 August 2018, reflecting the 62 additional days from the end of the previous financial year that women must work to earn the same pay as men.

The national gender pay gap is the difference between women’s and men’s average weekly full-time base salary earnings, expressed as a percentage of men’s earnings. It measures women’s overall position in the paid workforce rather than comparing like roles.

In the past 12 months, the national gender pay gap has declined from 15.3%. On average, women working full-time earned $1,433.60 while men working full-time earned $1,678.40.

Libby Lyons, Director of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, said this result recognises the work that businesses have done to address the issues such as pay equity.

“By collecting and analysing data, employers know where their gender equality hotspots are and can take action to improve them,” she said. “However, we cannot become complacent as there is still much work to do. All employers need to continue to ensure their employees are paid equitably.”

Ms Lyons suggested employers could investigate the issue in their businesses with a pay gap analysis. “This improvement in the gender pay gap proves that actions speak louder than words. If every employer in Australia did a pay audit, analysed the results and then took action, we would eventually consign the national gender pay gap to the annals of history,” she said.

Despite this positive result, Ms Lyons also said that Equal Pay Day is still an important reminder that women continue to face significant barriers in the workplace, particularly in terms of pay.

“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,” she said.

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