Increased transparency is a vital step towards gender pay equality in Australia. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) welcomes the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) Pay Gap Report and the contribution it makes to the national discourse on closing the gender pay gap.
The ABS is committed to building a workplace that enables all its employees to contribute and thrive. The Australian Statistician, Dr David Gruen AO, continues to support inclusion and diversity initiatives in his role as a member of the Champions of Change - STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and Health Group.
From 2017 to 2021 gender pay gap information was calculated for Australian Public Service (APS) entities by the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) from data provided to the APS Employee Database. This calculation included only APS staff employed under the Public Service Act 1999.
In 2022, the ABS began reporting on its APS and non-APS (field interviewer) workforces to WGEA. WGEA will not publish average gender pay gaps for base salary or total remuneration for the public sector in 2025. To maintain consistency, these have also been excluded from the ABS employer statement. The ABS median base salary and total remuneration gender pay gaps for the 2024 reporting cycle were both 0.0%.
The median total remuneration gender pay gap was 1.9% for the comparison group of similar sized Australian Government agencies. The ABS is working to maintain a gender pay gap that is close to zero by ensuring gender equitable recruitment, selection and career progression practices that enable both women and men to develop and advance their careers.
Since June 2016, the ABS has maintained female representation at over 40% in its Senior Executive Service (SES). According to the Champions of Change Coalition Impact Report 2024, the ABS was the only organisation out of 15 members of the STEM and Health Group to maintain or achieve the target of 40% or higher female representation in identified role types.
There is gender balance in the ABS workforce, with the proportion of female staff in its combined APS (office -based) and non-APS (field interviewer) workforce at 53%. The ABS has also achieved gender balance by pay quartile, indicating a gender-balanced workforce at all levels.