Young women will earn $1 million less than men over their career

Older women suffer pay discrimination in the workplace. And young women, while earning wages on par with men, will still earn nearly $1 million less over their lifetime than men.

National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling research released today shows that there is a huge gap between the earnings of men and women over their lifetimes.

A 25-year-old man, for example, is likely to earn a total of $2.4 million over the next 40 years, more than 1.5 times the $1.5 million earnings of a 25-year-old woman. A man who has a bachelor degree and children will earn about $3.3 million compared with a women in a similar position who will earn only $1.8 million.

The barriers to equal wages occurs in women’s child rearing years and is further affected by paying off HECS fees and returning to part-time work after child rearing.

The report also found that women lagged behind men in superannuation coverage across the board, even for Gen-Y women who were paid on par with men. Gen-Y women are likely to spend longer in tertiary education while some men will start in a trade and build superannuation immediately.

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