Gender pay gap falls to historical low

Positive signs for workplace equality have arrived in time for Equal Pay Day 2026, but employers are being urged to consider the whole – not just the pretty – picture.

According to newly released Australian Bureau of Statistics data, Australia’s national pay gap has fallen to the lowest recorded level of 11.3 per cent, down from 11.5 per cent in November 2025.

This has fallen from 14.1 per cent in May 2022, with Australian women working full-time also earning $325.50 more a week since then.

According to Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) president Michele O’Neil, this is because of new gender equity laws and recorded pay rises for workers in undervalued sectors.

She said: “Hundreds of thousands of underpaid childhood education and care workers are now being valued properly and getting the first phased historic wage rises as a result.”

“Health professionals, like dental assistants and workers in pathology clinics, are also beginning to get the wages that they deserve.”

Amid the ongoing inquiry into the National Employment Standards, changes continue to be implemented in Australia, including recent updates to the minimum wage, greater support for sectors that see strong levels of female employment, such as early education and aged care, and expanded parental and secondary caregiver leave.

O’Neil added that the recent minimum wage increase to 4.75 per cent “will also help close the gender pay gap because women make up 60 per cent of Australia’s minimum wage and award-reliant workers”.

However, Women’s Health in the South East (WHISE) noted that the data paints a positive, yet complicated, picture.

The organisation noted that women would need to work 48 additional days to earn the same amount as men in the previous financial year, also highlighting that the gender pay gap measured across all employees, rather than just full-time adults on ordinary time earnings, was 26.1 per cent – equalling a difference of $25,953 per year.

At the same time, the organisation acknowledged improvements in several sectors; construction, which traditionally saw one of the highest gender pay gaps, has seen its gap shrink to 3.1 per cent, and its female workforce reach 21 per cent.

According to WHISE chief executive Kit McMahon, “general commitment produces general nothing. Targeted, structural, evidence-led effort produces measurable change.”

On the back of yesterday’s (17 August) Equal Pay Day – which is calculated each year according to the national gender pay gap percentage – McMahon noted where focus should shift.

She said: “What the national number can’t yet capture is the experience of gender-diverse employees, of women facing compounding discrimination, and the weight of unpaid care and unpaid leave. Closing those data gaps is itself an act of equality.”

In this vein, the WGEA urged employers to use the day to demonstrate leadership, accountability, and commitment to workplace equality.

This begins with first recognising progress in reducing the gender gap, understanding its ongoing drivers, starting conversations about workplace equality, and committing to further erection to improve outcomes.

“Equal Pay Day is often a day for sighing at slow progress. I’d rather mark it differently. We know more than we ever have, we know what works, and the organisations that act on that knowledge are already getting results,” McMahon said.

“That is ground for optimism – and optimism is a daily act of defiance.”

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