Western Australia has the widest gender pay gap in Australia: WGEA

Grim data has revealed the Australian state with the widest pay gap between men and women — and there’s one main reason why.

The male dominated mining industry has seen Western Australia once again record the widest gender pay gap in the country.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s data shows men in WA were last year paid on average 21.2 per cent more per week than women — triple the 7.4 per cent disparity in South Australia.

Australia’s national gender pay gap was 13.8 per cent, with women across all industries earning $1591.20 each week on average compared to $1846.50 for men.

The state-by-state differences in the gender pay can be partly explained by industry profiles of each state and territory, analysis of ABS data by the federal government agency has found.

“The full-time workforce in WA has larger mining and construction sectors than other states, which are industries with relatively high earnings and low representation of women,” WGEA says.

“In comparison, South Australia and the ACT have large public sectors, which traditionally have lower gender pay gap and more balanced gender representation.”

WGEA on Monday released fresh Australia-wide analysis of gender pay disparity, this time based on age.

The Wages and Ages: Mapping the Gender Pay Gap by Age data series found that last year women made up less than 50 per cent of the full-time workforce across every generation.

The male dominated mining industry has seen WA once again record the widest gender pay gap in the country. Picture: File

At every age and stage of their working lives, the majority of women are also not working full-time, resulting in them missing out on management roles.

Men over the age of 55 are twice as likely to be in management than women.

For the women who have made it to managerial ranks at the same age, two-thirds are in lower tiered management ranks.

The data, taken from more than three million Australian employees, also reveals men are paid more than women across every generation.

The wage gap peaks at ages 55 to 64, where men out-earn women by 31.9 per cent, or more than $40,000 on average per year.

“Too many employers are missing a huge talent pool by not encouraging and enabling women to work additional hours or in the managerial ranks,” WGEA director Mary Wooldridge said.

“With effective policies, workplaces can both enable women to work full-time if they chose to and make higher-paid managerial roles more accessible for those who work part-time.”

Originally published as Western Australia has the widest gender pay gap in Australia: WGEA