The difference between women’s and men’s average weekly full-time earnings in Financial and Insurance Services has narrowed to 19%, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) says, from 24.1% a year earlier.

Men earned $2355.80 a week, while women earned $1907.80 – a gap of $448, down from $560 a year ago.

WGEA data shows women’s average full-time wages are lower across every industry and occupation in Australia. Nationally, the gender pay gap was 14.1%.

WGEA is staging “Equal Pay Day” today as a marker of the 60 extra days after the end of the financial year that Australian women must work, on average, to earn the same annual salary earned by men.

“WGEA is encouraging employers to make gender equality a priority,” WGEA Director Mary Wooldridge said.

“While women are earning less, they're spending the same as men on the essentials we all need to survive. A high inflation rate of 6.1 per cent is greatly increasing the cost of living.”

The Financial and Insurance Services gap compares with 25.3% in Professional, Scientific and Technical Services, 22.2% in Healthcare and Social Assistance, 18.8% in Construction, and 16% in Mining.

The data was collected in May using the latest Average Weekly Earnings data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. It excludes overtime, bonuses, pay that is salary sacrificed and superannuation.

The agency also publishes a separate calculation once a year which encompasses total remuneration at companies with over 100 employees, or around 40% of Australia’s workforce. That most recently found a 29.5% pay gap in insurance, second only to frontrunner Construction’s 30.6% gap.

For General Insurance, covering 13,000 employees at 21 organisations and made up of 54% women, that full-time gender pay gap stood at 23.6%, down substantially from 30.4% in 2015, that report showed.

WGEA is seeking that organisational-level gender pay gaps be made public each quarter to encourage change.

Ms Wooldridge says it is a “sensible business decision” to make sure companies are prepared for gender pay gap transparency, and able to “articulate what analysis has been done and the steps being taken to close it”.

“We encourage all employers to take gender equality seriously, incorporate it into their business strategy and to take action to address it. This will be good for business and good for all Australians.”