Workplace Gender Equality Agency reveals gender pay gap data for 5000 Australia companies | See the full list

New data from 5000 Aussie companies reveals there is still a big gulf between men and women’s pay slips. See the numbers.

Australian companies on average pay men 12 per cent more than women – and some that brand themselves as “empowering and supporting women” have the biggest gender pay gaps of all.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) today revealed data exposing the gender pay disparity at nearly 5000 major Australian employers.

Airlines, banks, construction and mining firms have been named and shamed as some of the worst offenders.

Explore the full data table here – you can search for individual companies or use the headers to filter by largest gap, industry or state.

Several brands primarily targeted at women have a gender pay gap far higher than the Australian average – cult fitness brand Lorna Jane’s gender pay gap was 37.1 per cent, Pandora Jewelry was 51.3 per cent and women’s clothing brand Forever New was 51.3 per cent.

Australian makeup juggernaut Mecca, which on its website claims to “strive to fight for women” by “empowering female-led businesses, supporting women to become financially secure and independent”, had a gender pay gap of 10.3 per cent.

The analysis of pay rates at every company employing 100 or more people in 2022-23, excluding the wages of CEOs, has found more than 3000 companies “favour” men, while about 1500 are considered “neutral” and just 400 pay women more.

A Lorna Jane store in Melbourne Central shopping centre. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

The pay disparities reported by WGEA are calculated by comparing median total remuneration of female and male employees, which accounts for base salary, superannuation, overtime, bonuses, sales commissions and other non-financial benefits.

Nationally the median Australian woman earns $78,484, while the median man takes home $96,945 — a 19 per cent increase.

Among major companies that employ more than 5000 people, Virgin Australia is the worst performer with a pay gap of 41.7 per cent. Qantas Airways wasn’t far behind with a gap of 37 per cent, while Jetstar, which has fewer workers, had a gap of 43.7 per cent.

Several large transport and construction firms had a gap of over 30 per cent.

Among the nation’s big banks, Commonwealth Bank’s pay gap was 29.9 per cent, Westpac 28.5 per cent, ANZ 23.1 per cent and NAB 18.8 per cent.

In the mining sector, SA’s largest company Santos has a gap of 24.7 per cent while Hancock Prospecting was at 22 per cent, BHP Group 20.3 per cent, Fortescue Metals Group 14.6 per cent and Rio Tinto 13.5 per cent.

The big supermarket chains all performed similarly with a relatively small pay gap – Woolworths at 5.7 per cent, Coles at 5.6 per cent and Aldi at 5.3 per cent.

WGEA chief executive Mary Wooldridge said the data was being released as a “catalyst for improvement” as it made employers publicly accountable.