Women in the public service are paid on average 8.6 per cent less than their male colleagues, well below the 19.6 per cent private sector pay gap, a new report has shown.
The latest Australian Public Service Remuneration Report showed the extent of the government gender pay gap for the first time, finding across the entire workforce the average base salary for women was $84,104, well below the $92,036 base salary for men.
Released on Tuesday, the report found median base salaries for women were within 1 per cent of men's pay at eight classifications, coming as APS employees stayed twice as long at the same level of seniority compared with 2008.
At the bottom of the pay scale, women graduates received $62,027 in 2016, 98.3 per cent of the median men's base wage of $63,095.
In the highest senior executive service 3 level, women were paid an average of $322,760, or 97.1 per cent of the median $332,381 base pay for men.
Women earn slightly more than men, on average, in five employment categories - the highest being at the APS 6 level where women make 101.6 per cent of mens' median income, or $88,194 compared with $86,844.
The report showed from 2015 to 2016, the median base salary for non-SES classifications positions increased by 0.3 per cent, while the median base salary for SES jobs increased by 2.3 per cent.
Including the annual full-time salary with salary sacrifice and pre-tax superannuation contributions but not bonuses, the overall median base salary movement for all APS employees was 0.3 per cent last year.
Workers at the highest end of the pay scale received the greatest increase in base salary, with SES 3 workers seeing a 4.8 per cent rise in 2016. APS 1 workers had the lowest median movement, with a decrease of 0.4 per cent.
Graduate employees had the greatest increase in their total remuneration levels - including salary, super, cars and parking spaces and other benefits - growing by 5.1 per cent, with base salary increases of 3.9 per cent a key contributor.
"A result of low employee mobility over the last few years is that a large proportion of APS employees are remaining at the same classification in the same agency," the report said.
"When employees remain at the same classification for long periods, they are likely to have advanced through the salary scale and reached the top for their classification. The median length at level for ongoing APS employees in 2016 was 6.4 years; this figure has steadily increased since 2008, when the median length at level was 3.2 years."
An increase in new employees in the period is likely to have influenced the average salary for APS 3 to APS 6 classifications in 2016.
More than 19,000 public servants took home bonuses, including 13.9 per cent of the non-SES workforce. Median bonuses grew by 0.6 per cent last year, ranging from $725 for APS 1-4 employees to $30,518 for SES 3 positions.
More than 12,000, or 8.7 per cent of the workforce, were acting at different classification levels for more than 90 days, a slight reduction in acting levels from the previous year.
The proportion of SES employees receiving a motor vehicle allowance remained all but steady at 67.5 per cent.
The report considered data on 2565 senior executive service and 127,320 non-executive public service employees. Nearly 11,200 ongoing employees were hired in the period, up from 5836 in 2015.
Some wage increases from the 37 new enterprise bargaining agreements approved in 2016 had come too late in the year to be reflected in the new figures.
APS 1 employees were the most likely to be employed on a non-going basis, at 26.3 per cent, while APS 2 and 3, and SES 3 classifications had non-ongoing numbers of between 8.3 per cent and 18.3 per cent. All other classifications hade fewer than 6.1 per cent of workers on a non-ongoing basis.
Public Service Commissioner John Lloyd said the 8.6 per cent pay gap "compares favourably with the 19.6 per cent gender pay gap in the private sector."
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