Minister for Women Katy Gallagher insists there is plenty more work to do to make male and female earnings equitable, despite a record narrowing of Australia's gender pay gap.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The ACT senator has highlighted uneven progress, particularly an increase in the territory's gender pay gap data from 7.9 per cent to 10 per cent.
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency crunched the latest average earnings data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to find the gender pay gap has tightened from 14.1 per cent last May to 13.3 per cent in November.
It means that nationally women are still earning just over $250 less per week on average than men, and women - again on average - earn 87c to every dollar a man makes.
"I am pleased to see that the latest ABS figures show the gender pay gap is narrowing," Senator Gallagher said.
"But we can also see that this progress is uneven across sectors and geography, for instance the pay gap in the ACT increased from 7.9 per cent to 10 per cent, this shows there is still plenty of work to do."
READ MORE
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency notes the pay gap remains larger in the private sector, at 16.1 per cent, compared to the public sector at 11.2 per cent.
It comes after the Albanese government introduced legislation to force medium and big companies with 100 or more workers, as well as similar size public sector agencies, to reveal their gender pay gap.
Senator Gallagher said the legislation should, "drive greater transparency and encourage employers to take action to close the gender pay gap in their workforce".
Western Australia has the biggest pay gap at 22.1 per cent, followed by Queensland at 14.6 per cent. The ACT is now at 10 per cent, while the smallest pay gap is found in Tasmania at 6 per cent.
Women's average weekly earnings (4 per cent) increased faster than men's (2.8 per cent) over the year to November.
Agency director Mary Wooldridge said the data is based on full-time weekly base salary data, so it is only a limited picture.
She said while inflation is at 7.8 per cent and the cost of living is financially hurting, the gender pay gap is unfair on women.
"Women are $253.50 worse off every single week as a result of their gender," she said.
"Over the course of one year, the weekly difference of $253.50 adds up to $13,182. That's income that could have gone towards meeting bills, mortgage repayments or additional contributions to superannuation funds for retirement."