Our gender pay gaps
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Agency-wide
Figure 1: Agency-wide gender pay gap (GPG) over time
As of June 30, 2021, MSD had a total of 6,552 female employees, 2,720 male employees and 24 gender diverse employees.
We have seen a steady reduction of our GPG, falling below 10% for the first time in 2021. The biggest factors contributing to the reduction have been increasing pay to our lower paid employees through role reviews, living wage adjustments and a new pay and progression approach. We have also continued to focus our efforts on activities that will have longer term impacts, especially in the areas of flexible working and creating opportunities for development.
Across all MSD employees, the average male salary is now 9.9% higher than the average female salary. The median male salary and the median female salary are the same. While our median GPG shows there is no gap for a ‘typical’ female employee at MSD, an average GPG of 9.9% indicates that females are more represented in lower paid roles than higher paid roles whereas males are more represented in higher paid roles than lower paid roles.
For the first time in 2021, MSD can report on its agency-wide Gender Diverse Pay Gap (GDPG). While the overall numbers of gender diverse employees is small they meet the threshold for agency-wide reporting. Across all MSD employees, the average male salary is 13.1% higher than the average gender diverse salary. The median male salary and the median gender diverse salary are the same. This indicates that gender diverse employees are more represented in lower paid roles than higher paid roles whereas males are more represented in higher paid roles than lower paid roles.
We cannot draw too much meaning from the agency-wide GDPG at this time, as we are comparing a group of 24 gender diverse employees to 2,720 male employees and the different sample sizes may affect the result by making it appear bigger than it is.
Within same or similar roles
For this action plan, we conducted further analysis within same or similar roles by examining representation and pay gaps within pay groups and bands, where representation met our minimum sample size and made this possible. The majority have a minimal or no gender pay gap. Analysis identifies two bands (B06IT+ and MSS04) indicating gender pay gaps >3% due to the clustering of females in the lower end of the bands. The B06IT+ band consists of roles such as Senior Business Analyst and Senior Developer and has a 3.6% gender pay gap. MSS04 is made up of primarily Service Centre Managers[3] and has a 3.0% gender pay gap.
By level of earning
MSD conducted additional analysis comparing representation and pay gaps between the lower, middle, and higher earning groups as outlined in the Public Service Pay Guidance 2021. Lower earning is defined as less than $60,000, middle earning is $60,000-$100,000 and higher earning over $100,000.
There are minimal or no pay gaps at the lower or middle levels, with an average pay gap of 4.6% at the higher level of earning. Females represent 55.7% of the higher earning group, 73.2% of the middle earning group and 71.7% of the lower earning group[4].
By level of seniority
Within each business group, the number of tiers vary, making it difficult to compare pay gaps by tier across the organisation. For the purposes of this year’s action plan, we will instead provide analysis by managerial groupings - line managers, managers, and senior managers. There are no significant gender pay gaps within any of these managerial groupings[5]. It is only when we look at the managerial group as a whole that we see a pay gap.
By FTE status
97.7% of MSD’s workforce is full-time. As such, we see that the gender pay gap for full-time staff is 9.7%, similar to our agency-wide pay gap. Of the remaining staff who work part-time, 89.3% are female. The average part-time male salary is 20.3% higher than the average female who works part-time. The median salary for part-time females is -13.0% when compared to part-time males. This is because the number of part-time males is low at MSD and most are in lower paid roles with a few exceptions of part-time males working in higher paid roles which brings up the average[6].
By occupation group
Our analysis by occupation group shows some pay gaps more than +/- 3%, with one occupation group in particular (Managers) whose pay gaps using both average and median salaries are larger than the overall MSD GPG.
- ICT professionals and technicians is the only occupation group at MSD where male representation is higher than female. This occupation group is also experiencing a pay gap of 4.8%, indicating those females who are represented, are clustered in lower paid roles within the occupation group.
- We also see high pay gaps in the Legal, HR and finance professionals (pay gap of 6.3%) and Policy analysts (pay gap of 7.8%) occupation groups. These gaps are driven by similar issues we see in the Manager group; the occupation groups themselves consist of a wide range of roles, that span a number of different levels and pay bands, with females represented more highly in lower paid roles within the occupation groups.
- The Managers’ occupation group includes line managers, managers, and senior managers, and therefore covers a wide range of pay bands. When analysing the managers in this occupation group by looking at same or similar roles, the typical female manager within these bands does not experience a pay gap. However, when looking at the occupation group overall, we see again that the higher representation of females in line manager and manager roles, compared to senior manager roles, drives an average pay gap across the whole occupation group of 11.7%.
- Our largest occupation groups are Social, health and education workers (45% of our workforce and where Case Managers are represented) and Contact centre workers (15% of our workforce). Both occupation groups have >70% female representation and are also two of our lowest paid groups. These occupation groups both experience a very low pay gap of 0.3%[7].
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[3] Refer Table 2 within Gender and Ethnic Pay Gap – Data Analysis: 2021-2022
[4] Refer Table 3 within Gender and Ethnic Pay Gap – Data Analysis: 2021-2022
[5] Refer Table 4 within Gender and Ethnic Pay Gap – Data Analysis: 2021-2022
[6] Refer Table 5 within Gender and Ethnic Pay Gap – Data Analysis: 2021-2022
[7] Refer Table 6 within Gender and Ethnic Pay Gap – Data Analysis: 2021-2022
