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.
By crunching the latest ABS Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings (AWOTE) data and adjusting for each state’s capital city CPI, the McKell Institute’s latest Data Briefing Report has found:
- Real wages for women fell by 1.6 per cent in 2021, compared with 1.2 per cent for men
- Real wages fell fastest for Victorian and Queensland women compared to their male counterparts
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% |
“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 factor in the upcoming election, and right now it’s women who 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.”
