Women close the gap: Female salaries skyrocket and are growing at TRIPLE the rate of male wages
- Female wages soared by 4.3 per cent during the past year, official data showed
- Male pay levels went up by a much more modest 1.3 per cent in year to August
- Macquarie Group boss Shemara Wikramanayake is Australia’s highest paid CEO
- The daughter of Sri Lankan immigrants makes $18million a year as chief banker
Sometimes it really does pay to be a woman – with their salaries skyrocketing compared to men.
For the first time ever, a woman is Australia’s highest-paid chief executive, with Macquarie Group boss Shemara Wikramanayake, the daughter of Sri Lankan immigrants, making $18million.
Australia Post chief Christine Holgate was last year paid $2.6million – the highest salary for someone running a government business.
Sometimes it really does pay to be a woman – with their salaries skyrocketing compared to men. Female salaries surging by 4.3 per cent during the past year as equivalent male pay levels rose by a much more modest 1.3 per cent (stock image)
They were far from the only lucky ladies in Australia, with female salaries surging by 4.3 per cent during the past year as equivalent male pay levels rose by a much more modest 1.3 per cent.
Australian Bureau of Statistics head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said job insecurity had curtailed male earnings.
‘Median weekly earnings for male employees rose by less than that of female employees, partly because of the growing number of males working part-time hours, and the industries and occupations that men and women are working in,’ he said on Monday.
While women’s wages are growing at a faster pace, the gender pay gap persists.
Men working full-time are paid a median salary of $76,700 compared with $65,000 for women.
That represents a gap of $11,700 or 15.2 per cent.
In August, median weekly earnings for all workers rose by an annual pace of just 2.3 per cent, the ABS data showed.
For the first time ever, a woman is Australia’s highest-paid chief executive, with Macquarie Group boss Shemara Wikramanayake (pictured), the daughter of Sri Lankan immigrants, making $18million
Most workers have struggled to get a decent pay increase, with wages growth stuck at below-average levels since 2013.
Women have also been the biggest casualties of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s plan to axe four federal government departments.
Three of the five department secretaries who are being axed are women, including Heather Smith and Renee Leon, who both earned $775,910 running Industry and Human Services, respectively.
Kerri Hartland earned $748,210 as boss of the Department of Employment, Remuneration Tribunal data showed.
Frances Adamson, who earns $864,580, remains the highest-paid female public servant running the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Australia Post chief Christine Holgate was last year paid $2.6million – the highest salary for someone running a government business