CANBERRA, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Australia's gender pay gap has fallen to its lowest level on record, but men continue to earn over 20 percent more than women in comparable roles, a government report has found.
The federal government's Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) on Wednesday published its annual Gender Equality Scorecard for 2023-24, revealing that women earn 21.8 percent less on average than men in comparable roles.
Over a full year, the gap equates to women earning 28,425 Australian dollars (18,558.2 U.S. dollars) less than men on average.
The gender pay gap in 2022-23 was 21.7 percent. However, the 2023-24 scorecard was the first since WGEA reporting began in 2014 to include remuneration of highly-paid chief executive officers (CEOs), heads of business (HOBs) and casual managers.
When calculated the same way as previous reports, the WGEA said the 2023-24 gender pay gap was 21.1 percent -- the lowest on record.
Among CEOs and HOBs the gender pay gap was 27.1 percent -- the largest of all manager categories.
Based on reports to the WGEA from 7,414 employers covering 5.1 million employees in 19 industries, the scorecard found that two-thirds of employers analyzed their gender pay gaps and that 75 percent of those who did so took action to reduce them.
"WGEA's results show change is happening, with a significant increase in employers investigating what's driving their gender pay gap and acting on the results," Mary Wooldridge, CEO of the WGEA, said in a statement.
"But the national results show a persistent and pervasive gender pay gap still limits the lifetime earnings of Australian women, affecting their ability to save, invest and build long-term financial security for themselves and their families."
The WGEA said that the most significant contributor to the reduction in the gender pay gap in 2023-24 was an increase in the wages of low paid workers, particularly in aged care where women make up 80 percent of the workforce. ■