First Nations workers earn an average 16 per cent less per hour than the Australian workforce overall, according to new Indigenous-led research by the University of Technology Sydney's Centre for Indigenous People and Work and Indigenous Business Australia.
The report, Towards Indigenous Pay Parity, says Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers receive about 84 cents for every dollar earned per hour across the wider workforce. Researchers analysed national data across 227 occupations and found lower average hourly pay for First Nations workers in roughly three-quarters of them.
The gap was largest among professional occupations, at 19.5 per cent. The research also identified a layered gender effect: First Nations women earned an average of about $41 an hour compared with about $52 for Australian men overall.
The authors found that differences in education, experience, occupation and working hours did not fully account for the result. About 70 per cent of the measured gap remained unexplained by the available variables, which the report says points to structural factors requiring further investigation and action.
The researchers caution that these are economy-wide averages, not a direct comparison of otherwise identical employees in the same role. Their recommendations include stronger pay transparency, better data and a positive duty on employers to prevent racial discrimination.
Sources: UTS Centre for Indigenous People and Work; ABC News report.
Image disclosure: The featured image is an AI-generated editorial illustration. The people shown are fictional and do not depict the report's participants or authors.
