People who work in insurance are on average paid substantially more than their counterparts in other Australian industries, new data shows.

Average remuneration in the financial and insurance services sector is the nation’s second highest at $162,000, behind mining. This compares with $116,000 Australia-wide, and just $70,000 in accommodation and food services.

But while that sounds like a reason to celebrate, the trouble is that for women – who make up 53% of the workforce – the advantage shrinks, because 96% of companies in the sector pay men significantly more than them.

One big reason this pay gap exists is that women are underrepresented in higher-paying leadership roles. The top executive positions are still mostly held by men.

While the lower-paid hospitality sector has a small gender pay gap – just 7.2% on average, or 1.6% on a median basis – men in insurance are paid 22.2% more than their female colleagues, new Workplace Gender Equality Agency figures show.

Only 37% of top-quartile earners – receiving an average of $307,000 a year – are women; 67% of lower-quartile insurance workers, on $76,000 a year, are women.  

The WGEA update, published before Saturday’s International Women’s Day, is the second publication of employer gender pay gaps for more than 5 million Australians.

It shows 72% of surveyed employers have a gender pay gap in favour of men.

Notably for the insurance industry, high-paying employers are most likely to have a gender pay gap in favour of men – and a larger one too.  

So, while employees in the sector are relatively well rewarded, this only makes the gender inequity starker.

WGEA CEO Mary Wooldridge says each employer has unique circumstances that affect the size of its gender pay gap, and larger gaps indicate “one gender is more likely to be over-represented in higher-paying roles compared to the other”.  

“This can be a sign of structural or cultural differences for one gender within an occupation, organisation or broader industry,” she said. “For employers that haven’t made progress, it’s time to ask why – dig into the data to find out what’s causing any gender differences and use evidence-based solutions to address them.”

WGEA’s analysis shows 56% of employers reduced their gender pay gaps in the past year and there was a significant increase in employers conducting gap analysis, while consultation with employees rose.

However, four in five employers still have a gender pay gap outside the target range of plus or minus 5%, and the agency is calling for “purposeful action that breaks down traditional notions of what it means to be a worker and carer in the contemporary workplace”.

For men, WGEA says a more equal experience could mean their employer providing access to paid parental leave, paying superannuation on that leave and supporting a flexible return to work from parental leave.  

For women, it could mean their employer is redesigning manager roles so they can be done on a part-time or job-share basis.  

“It’s promising to see the big increase in the number of employers working to understand what is driving their gender pay gap, beyond unequal pay,” Ms Wooldridge said.  

Lender's mortgage insurance provider Helia says it is "a positive outlier amongst its industry peers," with a 2.5% median pay gap in favour of women.

“We are focused on maintaining this position moving forward,” Helia CEO Pauline Blight-Johnston said.

How the surveyed insurance companies perform