The wage gap between men and women has increased slightly, as the government announces plans to water down gender reporting requirements for businesses.
Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday show that the wage gap has jumped by 1.4% to 18.8% since November 2013.
The gap increased 0.7% since the last time figures were collected in May 2014.
Men in full-time employment earn an average of $1,587.40 a week, the ABS figures show, whereas women earn an average of $298.10 less.
Wages are growing at their slowest pace since 1997. They rose only 2.5% in the last 12 months. The mining industry continues to have the highest wages of all industries. The financial and insurance industries had the highest gender pay gap, at nearly 30%, followed by the health and social industry at just over 29%.
Public administrators and workers in the accommodation and hospitality industries have the smallest gap, with just over 7% and 9% respectively.
“It is very concerning to see the national gender pay gap at a record high of 18.8%,” Carla Harris from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency said. “The silver lining is that some of the industries with the biggest gender pay gaps … have reduced their gender pay gaps in the past year.”
“However, it is important to remember that the national gender pay gap is a high-level figure that shows general differences in earnings between women and men across the board. It is not a like-for-like analysis of women and men doing the same job and, therefore, it doesn’t mean that women are earning 18.8% less than men in the same role,” Harris said.
The minister assisting the prime minister for women, Michaelia Cash, said removing barriers to women re-entering the workforce after having children was essential in closing the pay gap.
“The government understands that a lack of accessible, flexible and affordable childcare is a major barrier to women’s participation in the workforce,” Cash said. “Improving gender equality and female participation in the workforce is essential to boosting Australia’s productivity and our economic growth.”
Cash announced that the government would water down gender and pay reporting requirements for businesses with more than 100 employees, following a consultation process with industry.
“The government will remove the most onerous of Labor’s additional requirements that were due to be introduced on 1 April 2015,” Cash said on Wednesday.
“This includes the requirement to report on separate components of remuneration for each employee. Reporting on job applications and interviews will also be removed. Employers will not need to report on CEO salaries from the 2015-16 reporting period.”
The Greens said the reporting requirements would have provided “important gender equality indicators”.
“For example, data on job applications and interviews at the managerial level, where the pay gap is highest, is especially important, as it would show where the glass ceiling is the most impenetrable,” Senator Larissa Waters said.
“We need comprehensive data so that we can pinpoint where, when and how women are facing workplace discrimination so that we can stamp it out and fix the gender pay gap. You can’t fix the gender pay gap by hiding it.”
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) said the requirements need to be strengthened, not watered down.
“Without meaningful data employers cannot identify where gender pay gaps exist and take action to address discrimination and barriers many women face,” the ACTU president, Ged Kearney, said.
