(March 3): Pay for women and men at firms in Australia’s financial and insurance services sector remains among the most unequal, according to government data that was expanded to include the salaries of more workers and a deeper analysis of wages.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s (WGEA) data released on Tuesday includes new analysis of wages across sectors and companies. High-paying employers are the most likely to have a pay difference in favour of men, WGEA found. The finance and insurance industries had a differential of 22.2% of the average total remuneration, second only to the pay gap in the construction industry. 

The data builds on the overall pay gap between men and women nationally, which sits at 21.8%. The latest data analysis covers 5.3 million employees across 19 industries. Over time, the data set has grown to include CEOs, heads of business and casual managers. 

The analysis showed 56% of employers reduced their gender pay gap in the last year, said WGEA chief executive officer Mary Wooldridge. 

“Just over the majority of employers are improving on their gender pay gap,” said Wooldridge. “That’s really, I think, the challenge for employers to articulate: they’ve got a gap, what’s driving it and what are they doing about it?” 

The report includes companies with 100 or more local employees. Just 21% of those firms have an average gender pay gap in the target range of between -5% and +5%, WGEA said. 

The United Nations estimates the gender pay gap globally to be around 20%. According to the World Economic Forum, Iceland tops its global rankings of gender parity. Australia placed 24th. 

A full breakdown of all employer data is available on WGEA’s website.

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