ANALYSIS: New data shows WA employers have a gender pay gap nearly four points above the national mid-point, while the state's mining sector continues to drive the divide.
ANALYSIS: WA employers reported a median gender pay gap of 15.1 per cent in FY25, nearly four percentage points above the national mid-point of 11.2 per cent, according to data released by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency and analysed by Business News on Tuesday.
The figures, drawn from 843 WA employers covering thousands of workers, mark the third consecutive year of employer-level pay gap publication under federal transparency legislation.
The result positions WA as one of the country's most unequal labour markets by this measure, reflecting the disproportionate weight of male-dominated, high-paying industries — chiefly mining and construction — in the state's economic base.
Nationally, WGEA reported that 54.8 per cent of employers reduced their average total remuneration gender pay gap year-on-year, and the proportion of employers within its target range of ±5 per cent rose 1.1 percentage points to 22.5 per cent.
In WA, only 18.6 per cent of employers sat within that range, while 75.1 per cent reported a gap favouring men, compared with 70.8 per cent nationally.
Two WA employers did not report a calculable GPG figure and are excluded from this breakdown.
Last Updated: 3 March 2026Workforce skewed by industry structure
WA's overall workforce gender composition differs markedly from the national picture.
Women make up 40.1 per cent of the total WA workforce captured in the data, compared with 51 per cent nationally.
The divergence is even more pronounced at the top of the pay distribution: women hold 31.4 per cent of upper-quartile roles in WA, against 36 per cent nationally.
In the lowest-paid quartile, women represent 49.8 per cent of WA workers, below the 58 per cent national figure.
WGEA characterises the national pay gap as partly structural: men are 1.8 times more likely to be employed in the highest-earning quartile, with an average annual salary of $221,320, while women are 1.4 times more likely to occupy the lowest-paid quartile at $60,195.
In WA, the concentration of women in lower-paid roles within already male-dominated industries compounds that effect.
Mining leads on gap size
Mining is both the largest single industry in WA's WGEA dataset — accounting for 130 of the 843 reporting employers — and among its most unequal.
The WA mining median pay gap of 20.1 per cent exceeds the national mining mid-point of 18.9 per cent, and 85.4 per cent of WA mining employers sit above the 11.2 per cent national pay gap benchmark, compared with 81 per cent of mining employers nationally.
The leadership pipeline is particularly stark.
Just 9.5 per cent of workers in the upper-earning quartile across WA mining employers are women, versus 17 per cent nationally — itself a figure WGEA considers inadequate.
Women make up 20.1 per cent of the total WA mining workforce, against 23 per cent nationally.
The average total remuneration across WA mining employers remains high, at approximately $203,285 per year.
CME Chief Executive Officer Aaron Morey said improving female participation was a priority focus for the resources sector and would help further reduce the gender pay gap over time.
“The WA resources sector simply would not function without the immense and growing contribution of women,” he said.
“Closing the gender pay gap will take time, but we have seen encouraging progress, with women increasingly represented right across our industry – from executive leadership to on-site operations.”
Divergence from the national picture
Across most industries, WA employers reported higher median gender pay gaps than the national mid-point for the same sector.
The divergence is widest in wholesale trade (WA's median came in at 23.4 per cent versus the national mid-point of 15.0 per cent, a gap of 8.4 percentage points), retail trade (17.2 per cent versus 9.9 per cent) and transport, postal and warehousing (18.4 per cent versus 11.9 per cent).
Professional, scientific and technical services (representing about 70 reporting employers in WA) recorded a WA median of 21.6 per cent, 5.2 percentage points above the national mid-point for that sector.
Meanwhile, employers across electricity, gas, water and waste services diverged by 3.9 percentage points.
It’s important to note that not all sectors are performing below the national benchmark in WA.
For instance, administrative and support services produced a WA median of 3.5 per cent — 4.1 percentage points lower than the national mid-point of 7.6 per cent.
And interestingly, construction (22.5 per cent versus 23.8 per cent nationally) and accommodation and food services (3.5 per cent versus 5.2 per cent) also perform relatively better in WA than the national data suggests.
Notable WA employers, and the bonus effect
Perth-based stockbroking firm Euroz Hartleys recorded the widest gap among WA employers at 68.3 per cent, a figure the WGEA report places in the national top 10.
Notably, the firm's base salary gap is 23 per cent, meaning the majority of the disparity is attributable to discretionary payments such as performance bonuses, brokerage commissions and incentive structures rather than unequal base pay.
This pattern is consistent with WGEA's national finding that the median employer pay gap on discretionary payments alone is 29.7 per cent.
Elsewhere, Wesfarmers, the Perth-headquartered conglomerate behind Bunnings, Kmart and Officeworks, reported an average total remuneration gap of 57.3 per cent, against a base salary gap of 39 per cent.
Several aviation operators also ranked highly: Virgin Australia Regional Airlines, formerly known as Skywest, came in at 50 per cent, while CTI Logistics (51 per cent), National Jet Express (49.8 per cent) and Network Aviation (49.7 per cent) all reported gaps at or above 50 per cent.
The pace of progress
Releasing the national data on Tuesday, WGEA chief executive Mary Wooldridge said progress was occurring but needed to accelerate.
"Employers should treat gender equality like their other business goals," she said.
"Do a detailed analysis to find the issues, create an action plan to address them and set targets to be accountable for ensuring progress happens."
Starting this year, legislative requirements will oblige employers with 500 or more direct employees to select and meet gender equality targets or demonstrate measurable improvement over three years.
Nationally, WGEA's analysis found that only 27 per cent of employers had set a target to reduce the gender pay gap, and 32 per cent had not conducted any form of internal pay gap analysis.
For WA, where the weight of the resources sector drives above-average gaps, the data suggests there's plenty to do to close the divide.
