The continuing gap between male and female wages could have serious implications for the nation's competitiveness with a new report finding women on average earn 16 per cent less than men.
The continuing gap between male and female wages could have serious implications for the nation's competitiveness with a new report finding women on average earn 16 per cent less than men.
A KPMG report, prepared for the Diversity Council of Australia, analysed the differences in pay between men and women and the impact it has on the economy.
The report found that the gender pay gap can be seen as a potential source of productivity gain, with wages seen as the equivalent to the value of the person's output.
It said that even though women's labour market position has improved since females were first officially included in 1919, a number of differences between men and women still remain.
In particular, females were earning on average 16 per cent less than men, with women on average earning an hourly rate of of $21.91 while men earn $23.20.
Women comprise only 7 per cent of executives in ASX 200 companies even though females account for 42 per cent of the total workforce, and women make up 70 per cent of Australia's part-time workforce.
"... the persistence of this gender pay gap in Australia, and the associated misallocation of resources across the economy, may have serious implications for the nation's competitiveness and restrict opportunities for growth," KPMG said in its report.
The report found that the pay gap was driven by two sets of factors, with the first relating to the difference in skill sets between men and women such as education, tenure and returns on an individual's investment in human capital.
The second set focused on labour market rigidities such as sex discrimination, occupational segregation, interruptions to a female's work life either due to family or caring responsibilities and the political and legislative environment.
Numbers wise, sex discrimination accounted for 35 per cent of the gap while occupational and industry segregation accounted for 28 per cent of the gap.
The length of time women spend out of the workforce for "interruptions" accounted for 9 per cent of the gap.
The report found that closing the gender pay gap may have a number of benefits both for individual companies and the economy in general.
Benefits include improvement in an organisation's ability to attract and retain female employees, reduced human resources costs through lower turnover rates, and capacity to create a more productive workforce through retaining talent.
"Enough is enough," Diversity Council of Australia chief executive Nareen Young said.
"The persistent underutilisation of women in the workforce is bad for employers and bad for the economy.
"Employers have to bite the bullet and deal with the issues at the micro level.
"Strategies like conducting pay equity audits to find where the gaps are, and providing a lot more opportunities for flexible working to keep women engaged with the workplace during their childrearing years are a great start."
