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Category: Gender at Work

  • Briefing Paper: Women’s Casual Job Surge Widens Gender Pay Gap

    Gender at Work

    Briefing Paper: Women’s Casual Job Surge Widens Gender Pay Gap

    by Alison Pennington

    Author

    Alison Pennington

    Senior Economist

    Media release



    Casual Job Surge Widens Gender Pay Gap

    This briefing note presents data on the gendered composition of the employment recovery since May.

    It shows women’s jobs returned on a more part-time and casualised basis than for men, and that the influx of women’s lower-earning jobs widened the gender pay gap between May and November 2020.

    While women were more likely to lose these same jobs early in the COVID pandemic (and so the return of these jobs is predictable), these statistics demonstrate how the gender pay gap worsens with increases in part-time and casual jobs.

    Finally, the paper describes three major existing and proposed government policies that are likely to widen pay inequality in 2021.



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  • Pay Equity in Community Services

    Gender at Work, Public Sector, Procurement & Privatisation

    Pay Equity in Community Services

    The Consequences of Federal Budgetary Decisions
    by Jim Stanford

    Author

    Jim Stanford

    Media release



    New Analysis: 12,000 Community Service Jobs at Risk Due to Funding Uncertainty

    The failure of the Commonwealth to confirm that it will maintain funding for community service organisations could threaten up to 12,000 jobs in that sector, at a moment when those services are critical to Australia’s pandemic-damaged economy.

    That’s the conclusion of new research on the economic importance of Commonwealth pay equity funding, conducted by the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute.

    The federal government has been stalling on whether it will continue $576.5 million in supplemental funding for federally-supported community services, currently set to expire in the current (2020-21) financial year.

    The special funding was part of the Commonwealth government’s legislated 9-year timetable to phase in pay equity wage adjustments in community services.

    If that funding is not renewed (either by incorporation into a higher level of core funding for affected organisations, or through the extension of explicit pay equity supplements), the resulting funding shortfall will undermine and reverse the progress that has been made toward pay equity since the 2012 pay equity order.

    The loss of federal pay equity supplements would inevitably produce some combination of staffing cuts and wage cuts, as organisations respond to such a significant loss of funding.

    If experienced fully through staff cuts, the end of federal supplements would result in the loss of close to 12,000 jobs in federally-supported community organisations.

    Alternatively, if the brunt of the funding cut is experienced through effective wage reductions (achieved through a range of potential channels described in the paper), it will reduce annual incomes for federally-funded community service workers by as much as $15,000 for full-time staff.

    The implementation of pay equity in community services has made a measurable difference to Australia’s (slow and uneven) progress toward closing the gender pay gap.

    The Centre for Future Work report found that the health and social services industry (which includes these community service organisations) has reduced the gender pay gap by more than any other industry in the years since the pay equity reform was announced. Those past gains will be undermined and reversed unless federal funding consistent with new pay equity norms is quickly confirmed



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  • Gender Inequality in Australia’s Labour Market: A Factbook

    Gender at Work

    Gender Inequality in Australia’s Labour Market: A Factbook

    by Alison Pennington and Jim Stanford

    Authors

    Alison Pennington

    Senior Economist

    Jim Stanford

    While women have made some progress in closing the wage gap and other dimensions of gender inequality in Australia, they still face daunting and persistent barriers to their full participation and compensation in Australia’s economy.

    That’s the conclusion from a new factbook on gender economic inequality in Australia, released by the Centre for Future Work to coincide with International Women’s Day on 8 March.

    The factbook compiles evidence on over 60 different statistical indicators of gender inequality in Australia, organised into 18 different subject groupings. It paints a composite picture of how women are blocked from full participation in work and economic activity, experience greater precarity in employment, are paid less for their efforts, and experience other forms of exploitation (including violence and sexual assault in workplaces).

    Some of its more startling findings include:

    • The true wage gap between women and men is much larger than often reported. The commonly-cited gender wage gap of 14% only applies to women working in full-time positions, and excludes bonuses and overtime payments. However, women have less access to full-time jobs, and receive far less bonus and supplementary income than men. The gender gap in total wage income is 32% – more than twice as wide.
    • Women are much more subject to precarious and insecure work arrangements than men. They are far more likely to be employed in part-time, casual, and temporary positions than men. Only 43% of employed Australian women work in a traditional full-time permanent job with normal entitlements (such as paid sick leave, holidays, and superannuation). The rest all experience one or more dimensions of precarity in their jobs. That compares to 57% of men in permanent full-time jobs with entitlements.
    • Women who undertake self-employment are especially vulnerable. The report shows that 47% of self-employed women are in vulnerable business positions: working part-time, and working either without incorporation or without any other employees (or both). That compares to 19.% of self-employed men.
    • Women are now more likely to be members of a union than men, and make up more than half of union members. Women who are in a union earn 29% more per week than women who are not in a union. For part-time workers, the union advantage is even bigger: women union members earn 44% more than non-members

    “The statistical evidence is overwhelming that women are a long way from achieving equality in Australia’s workplaces,” said Alison Pennington, Senior Economist at the Centre for Future Work and co-author of the factbook.

    “These systemic and structural barriers to full participation and fair compensation are holding Australian women back and our economy is weaker for it.

    “Australian women need to be able to work and earn to their full potential. This requires powerful measures to support women workers in all aspects of their lives; from quality affordable childcare to much stronger protections against violence and sexual harassment.”



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  • Vital Signs

    Gender at Work

    Vital Signs

    Indicators of Gender Inequality in Australia

    The Centre for Future Work has partnered with HESTA, the industry super fund for workers in health care and community services, to prepare a comprehensive report on the economic and social status of women in Australia today. The report shows that while progress has been made in some key areas, women continue to confront systematic barriers to their full participation in paid work, fair pay, retirement security, safety, and recognition.

    The report, “Vital Signs,” was published by HESTA as part of the fund’s ongoing efforts to address the all-around economic and social well-being of its members – 80% of whom are women. As HESTA’s CEO, Debby Blakey, put it, the systematic pattern of economic and social inequality follows women right into retirement: “Women, particularly those working in health and community services, often work in part-time or casual roles and are often lower paid. This perpetuates the gender pay gap, ultimately leaving them with less money in super.”

    The Centre for Future Work assisted with the economic and statistical research input to “Vital Signs.” Please see the announcement by HESTA of the report’s release.



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  • Women’s Wages and the Penalty Rate Cut

    Gender at Work, Wages & Entitlements

    Women’s Wages and the Penalty Rate Cut

    by Jim Stanford

    Author

    Jim Stanford

    Today is International Women’s Day, a time to reflect on the continued inequality faced by women — including in the world of work.  Traditional measures of the “gender pay gap” indicate that women earn around 17 percent less than men, in ordinary pay in equivalent full-time positions.  But the situation is worse than that, because of women’s disproportionate concentration in part-time work.  Including part-time workers, women now earn exactly one-third less than men.

    The Fair Work Commission’s announcement of coming reductions in penalty rates for Sunday and holiday work (of up to 50 percentage points of base wage) in the retail and hospitality sectors will clearly (if implemented) exacerbate the gender inequality in earnings.

    After all, the retail and hospitality sectors are among the biggest employers of part-time workers, very often in casual and irregular positions.  Women make up most of the workforce in both sectors, and they occupy an even larger share of part-time positions: 70 percent of women in food and beverage services, and 60 percent of women in retail, are in part-time jobs.  Most of the workers whose Sunday wages will be cut are women — and they were already among the lowest-earning workers in the entire labour force.

    If this decision was a “gift” to workers from the FWC (as some politicians have described it), wrapped up and delivered just in time for International Women’s Day, women should definitely send it back.



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  • Economic Aspects of Paid Domestic Violence Leave Provisions

    Gender at Work

    Economic Aspects of Paid Domestic Violence Leave Provisions

    by Jim Stanford

    Author

    Jim Stanford

    Economic insecurity is one of the greatest factors inhibiting victims of domestic violence from escaping violent situations at home.  To address that problem unions and employers have developed paid domestic violence leave provisions which allow victims to attend legal proceedings, medical appointments, or other events or activities related to the violence they have experienced, without risk of lost income or employment.  Proposals have now been made to extend that provision to more Australian workers, by including a paid domestic violence leave provision in the Modern Awards (presently being reviewed by the Fair Work Commission), and/or by including it as a universal entitlement under the National Employment Standards.

    This report considers the likely impact of such an extension on the payroll costs of employers, and finds it to be so small it would be difficult to measure: we estimate that incremental payments to workers taking the leave would amount to one-fiftieth of one percent (0.02%) of current payrolls.

    These findings refute recent statements by Commonwealth Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, who recently described domestic violence leave as “another cost on our economy that will have an impact on our international competitiveness.”  His government has opposed extending the provision — at least not until the Fair Work Commission has completed its review.

    The idea that a 0.02 percent increment to payrolls (less than one hundredeth of a percent of last year’s increase in average weekly wages) would even be noticed internationally, let alone undermine our “competitiveness,” is not credible.  Worse yet, this argument misunderstands the nature of competitiveness in a modern, innovation-driven economy.  Cementing a reputation as a safe, high-quality, inclusive place to live is beneficial to national competitiveness, and paid leave for victims of domestic violence would be an important symbol of Australia’s commitment in that regard.



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