Women to still retire with less super despite closing pay gap

Even if the gender pay gap closed, workforce spells and compound returns would see women continuing to retire with less super than men, new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has shown.

Industry Super Australia adviser, Phil Gallagher, said the data plotted both pay and superannuation gaps by age and salary, and found that men aged 55-64 saved 47.4 per cent more in their super accounts than women.

Industry Super head of consumer advocacy, Sarah Saunders, said the findings highlighted interrupted work patterns and lost compound returns on women’s retirement savings, and called for the monthly $450 Super Guarantee threshold that impacted women working part time or casual to be discarded.

“While a woman might return to a good salary after time out to care for a child or an ageing parent, she will have little chance of ever making up the super shortfall,” said Saunders. “That women today face thirty years in retirement with half as much super as men – because the system doesn’t put an economic value on unpaid care is unacceptable.”

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The Industry Super ABS data also showed that:

• The gender super gap for all full time workers aged 20 to 64 was 32 per cent;
• The super gap gets larger from age 40, possible reflecting women’s re-entry to the full time workforce;
• The super gap for women working full time gets bigger nearer retirement, possible reflecting the cumulative pay gap; and
• The super savings gap between women and men aged 25-34 on the same salary is 14.6 per cent.

Saunders said the super shortfall emphasised the importance of ensuring that the Age Pension safety net kept pace with livings standards by continuing to link it to wages rather than CPI.