Data Explorer Information and FAQ

The data contained in the WGEA Data Explorer is based on employer reports submitted to WGEA in our annual Employer Census, in accordance with the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (the Act).

I can’t find an employer. Why isn’t it listed?

There are multiple reasons why you may not be able to find an employer’s gender pay gap, including:

  • The employer may not be required to report to WGEA because:
    • It is a state and territory public sector employer; or
    • It is an employer with less than 100 employees.
  • Commonwealth public sector employers with 100 or more employees are on a different reporting schedule and their gender pay gaps will be published later in the year or early next year.
  • The employer’s trading name may be different to their reporting name. Try searching by the employer’s ABN. You can find an employer’s ABN on the Australian Business Register’s ABN Lookup page (available at: https://abr.business.gov.au/).
  • The employer may be non-compliant under the Act. This means the employer has 100 or more employees, but it has not reported to WGEA. Try looking for the employer on our named as non-compliant list.
  • The employer may be non-compliant under the Act, but not named as non-compliant. Not every employer who has failed to comply with the Act is named. When determining whether to exercise the discretion to name an employer, WGEA considers a range of factors including: if the employer has made a reasonable attempt to comply, if the employer is a first-time reporter, the size of the employer, prior history of compliance and, any written representations from the employer.
  • There are technical or data errors for an employer that have not been able to be resolved in time.
  • The employer may be required to report to WGEA under the Act, but has not registered to report.

Why can’t I find any information about non-binary employees?

The data shown on Data Explorer covers women and men. WGEA collects information from employers on non-binary employees on a voluntary basis. Due to the small numbers and voluntary nature of reporting, information about non-binary employees has not been included in the Data Explorer. 

Recommendation 7.2 of the Review of the Workplace Gender Equality Act recommended legislative changes to enable WGEA to mandatorily collect data on non-binary employees. WGEA has recently conducted consultations on this recommendation and is working toward stronger data gathering for gender diverse employees.

Why am I seeing information for submission group instead of an ABN?

The majority of employers who report to WGEA are single employers. However, a proportion are corporate groups with multiple subsidiaries who may report to WGEA in their own right. If some, or all, of their subsidiaries who also need to report have similar gender equality policies and strategies these subsidiaries can report to WGEA as a 'submission group.’ Where this is the case, the Data Explorer will show the submission group data for each individual ABN.

Can I get the full WGEA dataset, including the data not available on Data Explorer?

The full de-identified WGEA dataset is available on data.gov.au

Where can I get more information on what questions employers are asked in the Employer Census?

The annual WGEA Employer Census questions are posted on the WGEA reporting portal under the Reporting Guide | WGEA.

When will WGEA publish employer gender pay gaps?

WGEA will the median gender pay gaps for private sector employers with 100 or more employees in 2024. The data will be published on employer pages on the Data Explorer. For the full details of when this will happen and what will be included and excluded please see our Employer Gender Pay Gaps website page.