Both sides of the pay gap

Good morning AusCorp. We asked women if they'd ever been paid less than a man for the exact same job. Hundreds responded within hours. Almost nobody was told - they found out by accident through payroll glitches, contracts left on printers and salary screens they weren't supposed to see.

In this week's edition, we're publishing what they told us, what the labour market's first real cracks in 5 years mean for anyone thinking about a move, and we’re bringing back our flagship Salary Survey.

AUSCORP STRESS INDEX

The labour market just showed its first real cracks in 5 years. Unemployment is at its highest since 2021, employment fell across both full-time and part-time roles, and firms are extending hours for existing staff rather than taking on new headcount. Job postings across major platforms are holding but hiring intentions are weak, with more workers now competing for each available role, an indicator of further unemployment rises on the horizon.

THE BIG CONVERSATION

Ladies, have you ever been paid less than a man for the exact same job?

Almost nobody gets told they're being paid less. They find out by accident - a payroll glitch, a document left on a printer, an employee contract for someone you’re managing. If the only way to discover a pay gap is to stumble onto it, the question isn't how common it is. It's how many people never find out at all. When we asked men the same question, 12% knew they were earning more than a female colleague in the same role. 44% had no idea either way. The gap doesn't just happen because of a lack of policy. It survives because of silence, and because many just assume it doesn’t happen to them.

Most people assume that "women just need to negotiate harder". This is the default excuse because it attributes the problem to confidence, and the onus is on each woman to fix. But research proves that women negotiate about as often as men. They're just turned down more often and judged more harshly for asking the same thing.

The excuses we received in our DMs were wild so we compiled a list, and not one of them was about the job itself. They were about who managers decided the “additional” money was for. Fighting for a pay rise is a bit hard when you’re negotiating your way out of someone else's belief about what you deserve.

The motherhood line is heard all too often. Women are treated as a flight risk before having children, penalised while on leave, and downgraded after returning. In plenty of cases, becoming a father is treated as a reason to pay him more. You don't have to be a parent or a woman to find that indefensible. You just have to imagine it happening to your sister, your partner or your closest friend.

If you suspect it's happening to you, research the market range, compare notes with people you trust and keep a record of your wins. If it's not happening to you, you're the most useful person in the room. This was never men against women, and framing it that way only gives everyone an excuse to disengage. The gap has always relied on people not comparing notes. So compare notes. The companies actually closing their gaps are the ones publishing pay ranges and auditing every year.

2026 AUSCORP SALARY SURVEY

Since late 2022, your employer can no longer stop you discussing your pay. But most people still have no idea what the person next to them earns. We're trying to fix that.

This is our biggest survey yet and the more people who contribute, the harder it gets for anyone to be underpaid without knowing it. Anonymous, takes 2 minutes, and the results go straight back to the community.

PICK & SCROLL BY THE AUSSIE CORPORATE | LAST WEEK’S TOP PICKS

• Two-thirds of Australian Year 10 students just failed basic digital literacy testing - the worst result since testing began in 2005, when only a third failed. LINK

• WiseTech's plan to cut roughly 2,000 roles - around 30% of its Australian workforce, took a serious turn with the CEO receiving a handwritten threat of violence targeting his family. LINK

• The ATO has raised the cents-per-kilometre tax deduction rate for business car use from 88c to 91c starting in the FY2026-27. LINK

• CBA warned of unavoidable major job losses as it spends $2.4B a year on AI and pilots its agentic Commbank Companion tool with 2,000 staff. LINK

• NAB plans to hire more than 1,000 additional staff in its Vietnam and India innovation centres, where it already employs 7,000 people. LINK

Flat White lands every week. The news doesn't. Every weekday morning at 8:00am, we send you everything that happened across Australian business and corporate news in a 2-minute read. Same team. Same voice. Just daily.

THE INSIDE TRACK

TOGETHER WITH SHARESIGHT

As investment portfolios become more diversified and spread across multiple platforms, keeping track of everything becomes more challenging.

Many investors hold a mix of Australian and international stocks, ETFs, LICs, property and even cryptocurrency. Over time, this often leads to fragmented reporting and an incomplete view of overall performance. Sharesight brings it all together in one place, consolidating your investments into a single view.

THREAD OF THE WEEK - r/AUSCORP

Anyone else feel like Australian corporate life has become completely cooked?

Not sure if this is a rant or if I’m just burnt out, but Australian corporate life feels genuinely cooked at the moment. Hiring is a mess. So many jobs feel like they’re already filled before they’re advertised, but you still have to jump through 3-4 interviews, do the awkward “why do you want to work here” dance, then get ghosted or sent a generic rejection three weeks later.

Read the thread →

THE BRAINS TRUST

Business investment surged in Q1 while household spending fell 1.1% in April - transport, food and clothing all dropped. Corporate Australia is pouring money into IT and infrastructure while cutting back on groceries. Morgan Stanley calls it the "capex over consumption" split and they're betting on it widening.

Wages grew 3.3% in Q1 but after inflation they fell 0.7% over the past year. In real terms, purchasing power is back at 2010 levels. 15 years of living-standard gains effectively wiped out. The government has recommended a "real wage increase" from July but that's a recommendation to the Fair Work Commission, not a guarantee in your next pay cycle.

The labour market just showed its first real cracks in 5 years. Unemployment jumped from 4.3% to 4.5%, its highest level since 2021. Youth unemployment rose to 11.1%. Employment fell by 18,600 across both full-time and part-time roles. Firms are extending hours for existing staff rather than taking on new headcount. NAB surveys show hiring intentions are weak. The number of unemployed Australians is up 12.3% year-on-year, a trend Jarden says is too long and too consistent to dismiss as noise.

Households feel resilient, but analysts say both numbers are too optimistic, and mortgaged households show high sensitivity to even modest rate increases. Whether that confidence survives the next rate decision is another question entirely.

OFF THE CLOCK

WEARING
Alo finally lands in Sydney

The American activewear brand that has spent years arriving via international shipping and influencer luggage is opening its first Australian store, so the matching set crowd no longer needs to pay freight. LINK

WATCHING
Everything streaming in June, all at once

If you have been putting off deciding what to watch, here is the full rundown of what is landing across Netflix, Stan, Prime, SBS, HBO and the rest of them this month. LINK

GOING
Vivid's drone show is grounded for good

83 drones going into Darling Harbour unannounced was apparently enough to cancel the rest of the season's shows, which is a shame, though the footage of the incident is doing fine on its own. LINK

AUSCORP EVENTS

SPORTS
AusCorp Pickleball After Hours | Sydney | Catering & Paddles Included
Tuesday 2nd June 5:30PM-7:30PM | SOLD OUT | WAITLIST HERE

SPORTS / SOCIAL
AusCorp Singles Event | 👀 Coming Soon
July

ODD PICKS FROM LAST WEEK

• A CEO replaced 7,800 staff and called it "replacing lower-value human capital." LINK

• Why Alzheimer’s risk hits women so much harder. LINK

• Lost for 150,000 years: Rainforest discovery upends human history. LINK

• Hidden brain nutrient deficit that may fuel anxiety. LINK

• Gen Z is the most financially stressed generation in history and somehow the most optimistic about it. LINK

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