State of Pay: Female Relative Earnings in Australia

Abstract

Abstract Over the 1990s there have been a number of significant transformations in the Australian labour market, many of them likely to affect female relative earnings. This article examines the impact of changes in the regulatory industrial relations systems on gender earnings inequality. The paper begins with an overview of the regulatory development in the various state and federal jurisdictions. This analysis is followed with a short discussion of why decentralised wage fixing may fail women. The remainder of the article offers new empirical insight into Australian gender earnings differentials via a disaggregated state analysis.