The Workplace Gender Equality Agency is set to receive $8 million from the Federal Government to upgrade its systems for pay gap reporting in support of workplace gender equality.
WGEA’s data on the gender pay gap in Australia, which can identify pay gaps in different industry sectors, currently covers 40 per cent of Australian employees. The Government said this new upgrade — which enables public sector employers to voluntarily report for the first time — could potentially expand the percentage of Australians covered to 75 per cent .
Announced by Minister for Women Kelly O’Dwyer this morning, the upgrade will enable WGEA to better analyse data collected from workplaces across Australia, streamline its reporting, reduce time and costs of reporting to business and enable organisations to submit voluntary additional data.
“While women in the Australian workforce have come a long way, on average they still earn less than men. It is important to continue to improve the data available so we can identify and address sources of gender inequality in the workplace,” O’Dwyer said in a statement.
“This new technology will strengthen the work WGEA does with employers to promote and further improve gender equality in our workplaces, which will in turn help to grow the Australian economy.”
The pay gap is currently at 14.5 per cent, down from 18.8 per cent in 2015.
O’Dwyer will deliver the first Women’s Economic Security Statement later this month.
WGEA will release its next major data set on the gender pay gap in Australia tomorrow. Check back with Women’s Agenda for more.