Gen Y wages close the gap between the sexes
Wednesday April 1, 2009
Gen Y wages are almost evenly matched between the sexes with women's wages climbing closer to men's wages across the Australian jobs front.
This wages near-equality is said to be a result of the majority of women that have outperformed men in many stages in education and jobs with more women finishing high school and going on to university, with even a higher number of women moving into jobs and professions than men in the same Gen Y age bracket, which is 20s and early 30s.
A recent report has concluded that this is the first time that women have ever outnumbered men in professional jobs such as PR and Communications Jobs, rising an incredible 52.6 percent from 1988 to 2007 with the report citing the feminist movement benefitting Gen Y the most to date.
However, the true test is said to be when Gen Y begin to reach an age where children become an issue. A similar fate has affected Gen X with women of that age bracket, which is 34 to 48, being paid wages 3.5 percent less than men in similar jobs.
The report stated that the wages differences will increase as people aged with women perhaps either choosing to step down from demanding jobs such as executive jobs or being overlooked for male counterparts.
Furthermore, with superannuation the difference is minimal with 14 percent of women and 18 percent of men saving superannuation balances of between $25,000 and $100,000.
In terms of figures over the past twenty years, lifetime wages of a 25-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman will be $2.4 million and $1.4 million respectively; this is in spite of the massive increases in women enrollment in education and occupation in the jobs sector.
A study at an Australian university found that a man and a woman both with children and the same degree will have a massive wages earnings difference over a lifetime with the man earning wages of $3.3 million while the woman would be more likely to receive $1.8 million.
However, the Gen Y trends are starting much higher and with a much smaller gap between wages in sexes in the same jobs.