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Data on pay gap between male and female graduates dropped from report Data on pay gap between male and female graduates dropped from report
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The organisation that provides data on graduate salaries has removed gender-based information because of concerns it was being misconstrued in stories about pay disparity.

Graduate Careers Australia's 2013 graduate jobs data does not mention the average salaries of men and women; instead it gives an overall figure of $52,450 for all graduates.

This contrasts with its 2012 report, which highlighted a median annual salary of $55,000 for male graduates compared with $50,000 for females.

The removal of the information comes after Graduate Careers Australia criticised the federal government's workplace gender equality agency, which used the information to rail against what it saw as a $5,000 pay gap between male and female graduates.

Graduate Careers Australia is a non-profit organisation supported by university and some federal government funding. It said last year that the workplace agency, which is an advocate body for gender equality, had oversimplified its data to highlight the pay gap.

It is understood that Graduate Careers Australia felt that figures used for "raw, descriptive purposes" should have been the subject of a more detailed analysis that took in other factors, such as the types of jobs chosen by male and female graduates.

Bruce Guthrie, author of the reports and strategy adviser at Graduate Careers Australia, told Guardian Australia that more detailed data on salaries and gender would be produced by the middle of 2014.

"We understand the importance of equality in the workplace, whether that's based on race, sex, religion, disability or age," he said. "But that issue is beyond our unit and we were unsure whether our data can be used to point to inequality among graduates in the workforce, other than enrolment patterns.

"We'd always tell people to choose courses they want to do, not for the potential earnings. You don't chase the dollars. You chase the satisfaction you have in your career."

The subject of equal pay was reignited last year when the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that the gap between men and women had widened. Nationally, men are now paid, on average, 26 per cent more than women, up from 24 per cent a decade ago. The bureau data covers the entire working population, unlike Graduate Careers Australia's focus on graduates entering the workforce.

Nareen Young, chief executive of Diversity Council Australia, said Graduate Careers Australia should have kept the gender pay gap data in its report.

"It's only in the last 15 years where we've had any agreement as to the formula to use on this issue, so it's important we continue to measure it and address the issues it throws up," she said.

"In corporate Australia, this data is being analysed constantly, so they need information that organisations like Graduate Careers provide. I can understand why they are scared to do so, though.

"The question is why more males go into engineering and more women go into nursing. Engineering has a deep problem in that if they don't recruit more women into the sector they won't have a sector at all. Peak bodies are putting the work in to address that.

"Pay disparity is an issue we need to rectify. We need to retain the information so that we can examine it. Not because we will agree all the time what to do, but there needs to be the information so people are aware of the issue."		The organisation that provides data on graduate salaries has removed gender-based information because of concerns it was being misconstrued in stories about pay disparity.

Graduate Careers Australia's 2013 graduate jobs data does not mention the average salaries of men and women; instead it gives an overall figure of $52,450 for all graduates.

This contrasts with its 2012 report, which highlighted a median annual salary of $55,000 for male graduates compared with $50,000 for females.

The removal of the information comes after Graduate Careers Australia criticised the federal government's workplace gender equality agency, which used the information to rail against what it saw as a $5,000 pay gap between male and female graduates.

Graduate Careers Australia is a non-profit organisation supported by university and some federal government funding. It said last year that the workplace agency, which is an advocate body for gender equality, had oversimplified its data to highlight the pay gap.

It is understood that Graduate Careers Australia felt that figures used for "raw, descriptive purposes" should have been the subject of a more detailed analysis that took in other factors, such as the types of jobs chosen by male and female graduates.

Bruce Guthrie, author of the reports and strategy adviser at Graduate Careers Australia, told Guardian Australia that more detailed data on salaries and gender would be produced by the middle of 2014.

"We understand the importance of equality in the workplace, whether that's based on race, sex, religion, disability or age," he said. "But that issue is beyond our unit and we were unsure whether our data can be used to point to inequality among graduates in the workforce, other than enrolment patterns.

"We'd always tell people to choose courses they want to do, not for the potential earnings. You don't chase the dollars. You chase the satisfaction you have in your career."

The subject of equal pay was reignited last year when the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that the gap between men and women had widened. Nationally, men are now paid, on average, 26 per cent more than women, up from 24 per cent a decade ago. The bureau data covers the entire working population, unlike Graduate Careers Australia's focus on graduates entering the workforce.

Nareen Young, chief executive of Diversity Council Australia, said Graduate Careers Australia should have kept the gender pay gap data in its report.

"It's only in the last 15 years where we've had any agreement as to the formula to use on this issue, so it's important we continue to measure it and address the issues it throws up," she said.

"In corporate Australia, this data is being analysed constantly, so they need information that organisations like Graduate Careers provide. I can understand why they are scared to do so, though.

"The question is why more males go into engineering and more women go into nursing. Engineering has a deep problem in that if they don't recruit more women into the sector they won't have a sector at all. Peak bodies are putting the work in to address that.

"Pay disparity is an issue we need to rectify. We need to retain the information so that we can examine it. Not because we will agree all the time what to do, but there needs to be the information so people are aware of the issue."
A spokeswoman for the Workplace Gender Equality Agency said: "The average full-time woman continues to earn 17.5% less than the average full-time man.

"Examining graduate starting salaries can help us understand how the educational career choices of women and men lead to differences in lifetime earnings, and also help in broadly identifying where inequalities exist in the graduate labour market. The Workplace Gender Equality Agency is hoping to work with GCA, later in 2014, to further explore these important issues."
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