Super balances growing but gender super gap persists

Super Members Council

New Super Members Council analysis of recently released Australian Tax Office tax data shows Australians’ super balances are growing, which means more money in retirement income for millions of everyday Aussies.

But it also reveals the gender super gap is no longer closing among Australians on the runway to retirement in their early 60s, prompting renewed calls for urgent action.

In 2023/24, the super balances of millions of everyday Australians grew by 5.5% overall.

Despite super being a key driver of growing prosperity that is transforming retirement for millions of everyday Aussies, more needs to be done to fix the gender super gap.

While the gender super gap continues to narrow for younger working women, for Australians aged 60-64, concerningly the gender super gap now stands at 26% - compared to 20.5% in 2016-17.

Median super balances for Australians in this pre-retirement age bracket grew 7.4% for men, to about $236,000, and 7.0% for women, to about $175,000.

Women's median balances still sit below men's in every state. The gap is narrowest in the ACT (94%) and widest in WA (69%). Nationally, women’s median super balances are 20% lower than men’s (see table).

And while women make extra personal contributions at a higher rate than men (11.6% compared to 10.0%) and at a slightly higher average amount ($28,900 against $28,100) they still retire with 26% less in super.

“Super balances are growing, which is great news for millions of Australians’ retirement incomes — but women are still retiring tens of thousands of dollars behind men, and that gap must be fixed,” says Super Members Council CEO Misha Schubert.

The Council commends the Government on a series of major reforms in recent years to start to close the gender super gap such as payday super laws due to start on 1 July, paying super on paid parental leave, and lifting the Low-Income Super Tax Offset (LISTO). All three reforms will make a big difference for women.

But despite this progress, men’s super will continue to outpace women’s without further steps to tackle the gender super gap including by scrapping an outdated exclusion of part-time under 18 workers from being guaranteed super – an exclusion that particularly hurts young women.

That outdated law is recreating the gender super gap all over again for the next generation of young Australian women – our daughters and grand-daughters – from the very start of their working lives.

For older women, a recent Council report finds many common later-in-life events such as separation, unpaid caregiving for older relatives, and family violence are significantly more likely to force women into early retirement or part-time work. Those life events dramatically erode women’s ability to save for retirement - and can result in women having up to $95,000 less in super by the time they retire.

The Council has consistently called for further reforms to narrow the gender gap, including:

• Close gendered loopholes in super coverage by paying super for all workers including nannies, housekeepers and carers, and for all workers aged under 18.
• Remove barriers to women’s workforce participation by boosting access to childcare and aged care and strengthen workplace flexibility.
• Enabling fairer splitting of super in divorce settlements whether or not they are handled in a court.
• Boost Commonwealth Rent Assistance to give immediate help, and invest in new social housing over the medium-term, to protect vulnerable older women who are renting or at risk of homelessness.

Australians’ super balances are expected to grow further in coming years thanks to the Super Guarantee rate reaching 12% last year.

The 0.5 percentage point increase last year alone could see a typical 30-year-old retire with $22,000 more in super. Taken together with the full increase from 9% to 12% over the past decade, it could add up to $132,000 in extra superannuation savings by retirement for your average working Australian.

“Crucial recent reforms like payday super laws, paying super on paid parental leave, and boosting support for low‑income working people have made big strides forward for women — but this data confirms that we need to fix the remaining gaps in super coverage so no woman is left behind,” Ms Schubert said.

Median super balances (real balances in 2023-24 dollars, wage-adjusted, rounded to the nearest $100)

Gender gap by state, 2023-24 (median balance, rounded to the nearest $100).