New figures released today show the gender pay gap in Australia is closing, but not by a significant amount.Data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) reveals the gender pay gap for 2023 to 2024 at 10,000 companies and organisations that employ 5.3 million workers.In general terms, the gender pay gap is the difference between the average earnings of women and the average earnings of men in the workforce.LIVE: Tropical Cyclone Alfred updates
New figures show only one-in-five Australian employers have eliminated the gender pay gap. (Nine)Companies are regarded as having no gender pay gap if they have a less than 5 per cent average pay gap, either way, between men and women, among their workers.The new WGEA research shows only 21 per cent of employers have hit that benchmark.Nearly three-in-four of all employers have a gender pay gap in favour of men. High-paying companies are the most likely to have a gender pay gap skewed towards men and a larger gender pay gap.WGEA chief executive Mary Wooldridge said it was encouraging more than 1100 employers were in the target range, but more needed to be done.The gender pay gap has widened in these 10 Aussie industries in the past yearView Gallery"Each employer has a unique set of circumstances that impacts the size of their gender pay gap," Wooldridge said."Where an employer's gender pay gap is beyond the target range of +/-5 per cent, it indicates one gender is more likely to be over-represented in higher paying roles compared to the other. This can be a sign of structural or cultural differences for one gender within an occupation, organisation, or broader industry."For employers that haven't made progress, it's time to ask why – dig into the data to find out what's causing any gender differences and use evidence-based solutions to address them."The addition of chief executive salaries in the latest data – usually the top-paying job in an organisation and often held by a man – has caused the national average gender pay gap to blow out to 21.8 per cent this year.Equal pay is receiving the same remuneration for the same work. It is not the same thing as the gender pay gap.