Salary inequality high in Far North

show the 2500 employed men living at Mt Sheridan earn a median income per job of $56,439, while the suburb’s 2500 employed women pull in a median per-job income of $41,240 – a gap of more than $15,000.

Median employee income per job includes money earned from jobs with very short duration, such as seasonal work, as well as income from part-time/ casual jobs.

Cairns Business Women’s Club president Jules Steer said ABS statistics showed that women working in full-time positions were taking home an average of $349 per week less than their male counterparts, “meaning a full-time female employee would need to work an additional 62 days each year to earn the same income as a male”.

“A number of factors influence the gender pay gap, including unpaid domestic labour and industrial and occupational segregation,” Ms Steer said.

The World Economic Forum estimates that women complete an average of three hours and 17 minutes more unpaid domestic work each day than men.

“And industrial segregation, whereby industries which have a higher concentration of female participants, such as child care and social assistance roles, attract a lower pay rate than traditionally male-dominated professions,” Ms Steer said.

The wage gap is not always easy to measure, with some “adjusted” estimates taking differences in hours worked, maternity leave, chosen occupations, education and job experience into account.

But Ms Steer said many other factors contributed to the pay gap.

“It’s easy to think that gender parity exists only because women take time off to work to raise kids, with the knock-on effect being, upon their return to the workforce, they are less experienced than male counterparts. But I think that is shortsighted,” she said.

“To combat this argument, the ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) and WGEA (Workplace Gender Equality Agency) have found a pay gap still exists when comparing women and men with similar experience and similar fields. Indeed, the higher a woman progresses up the corporate ladder, the pay gap widens.”

The gender pay gap was best demonstrated in superannuation balances, Ms Steele said.

“The balance of women’s superannuation accounts are lower than men’s at every stage of their working lives. The median superannuation balance for females in Australia is $80,000, compared to males with $150,000.”

Ms Steel said Far North employers could make a difference by undertaking a pay gap analysis of their workplace, “to obtain a greater understanding of where their company practice lies”.