Australia's gender pay gap falls to 8.4% in May 2025

The gender pay gap for hourly earnings narrowed to 8.4% in May 2025, according to the latest detailed earnings data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

This marks a decline of 0.5 percentage points from 8.9% in May 2023.

Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics, said hourly earnings averaged $47.90 overall, with males earning $50.20 and females $46.

"Hourly pay is one of the indicators used to measure the gender pay gap, and is particularly useful given women are more likely to work part-time than men," he added.

In May 2025, average weekly earnings for all employees were $1,611, with males earning $1,871 and females $1,372.

Full-time employees were predominantly male (60%), earning $2,241 per week on average, compared with $1,966 for full-time females.

Among part-time workers, 69% were female, earning $882 per week on average, slightly higher than part-time males at $853. Median weekly earnings across all employees were $1,436.

By occupation, managers recorded the highest median weekly earnings at $2,596, followed by professionals at $1,979.

Sales workers and community and personal service workers earned the least, with medians of $818 and $968, respectively.

Crick noted that employees earning over $2,122 per week were in the top quarter of earners, while those earning less than $878 were in the bottom quarter.

Regarding pay arrangements, individual agreements were the most common, covering 38% of employees, followed by collective agreements at 35%.

Less than a quarter (23%) were paid according to an award, while a small share (4%) were owner-managers of incorporated enterprises who set their own pay.