The latest McKell Institute Data Briefing Series report has found that Australian women are bearing the brunt of falling wages, with real average weekly ordinary time earnings over the last year falling faster for women than for men.
Key findings
By crunching the latest ABS Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings (AWOTE) data and adjusting for inflation, the McKell Institute has found:
- Real wages for women fell by 1.6 per cent in 2021, compared with 1.2 per cent for menReal wages fell fastest for Victorian and Queensland women compared to their male counterparts
- Victorian women’s wages fell 2.2 per cent while male wages grew by 1.3 per cent
- Queensland women’s wages fell 2.7 per cent while male wages fell 0.1 per cent
|
|
AUS |
NSW |
VIC |
QLD |
SA |
WA |
Tas |
NT |
ACT |
|
Male |
-1.2% |
-3.1% |
1.3% |
-0.1% |
-0.5% |
-3.2% |
0.0% |
-7.5% |
1.6% |
|
Female |
-1.6% |
-1.4% |
-2.2% |
-2.7% |
0.3% |
-1.0% |
-2.4% |
-5.6% |
-0.2% |
Analysis
“On International Women’s Day 2022 not only are we failing to close gender pay gap, but average weekly earnings for women are falling,” said McKell Institute CEO Michael Buckland said. “Across Australia both men and women are doing it tough with the value of their pay packets falling in real terms. But this data shows women are doing it that much tougher. “If the federal government is not deeply alarmed by this data there’s something very, very wrong. Falling real wages will be a decisive factor in the upcoming election, and right now women are bearing the brunt of it. “Real wages are contracting and there’s no focused plan to turn things around.
This data unfortunately paints a grim picture for Australian wage equality this International Women’s Day.”
This analysis uses AWOTE and Capital City CPI to calculate real wage growth over the past year.
Contact for Media Comment: Michael Buckland CEO, McKell Institute michael@mckellinstitute.org.au 0401 089 932
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