In 2022, the wealthiest top one percent of Australians held 9.9 percent of the national income. The bottom 50 percent of Australians had 17.2 percent of the national income.

In Australia, 44 percent of all national wealth was owned by the wealthiest ten percent of the population in 2023. Within the age group of 65 years or older, the wealthiest ten percent also own 44 percent of the wealth, while the lowest 60 percent own just 20 percent.

A multi-millionaire is defined as someone owning 10 million U.S. dollars or more. It was forecasted that there would be almost 18 thousand individuals in Australia defined as multi-millionaires by 2026. This is in line with the country’s growing economy over the years as well as the growing wealth inequality that was becoming a cause for concern in the island nation.

Distribution of the wealthy

As a rich country with plenty of natural resources and a high Human Development Index, Australia had always had a large number of high net-worth individuals or HNWIs. There were over ten thousand millionaires including a couple dozen of billionaires, with these figures expected to grow significantly over the next few years.

Income inequality

Despite the increase of wealth and economic growth, there was a concern at the level of poverty and homelessness due to the rising wealth inequality nationally. The number of homeless people living in Australia had only been increasing with more than a hundred thousand people currently without shelter. Furthermore, most of the wealth was being pushed from the country to the cities, affecting the livelihood of those living in the countryside or outback.

About this dataset

Context

The dataset presents median income data over a decade or more for males and females categorized by Total, Full-Time Year-Round (FT), and Part-Time (PT) employment in West Melbourne. It showcases annual income, providing insights into gender-specific income distributions and the disparities between full-time and part-time work. The dataset can be utilized to gain insights into gender-based pay disparity trends and explore the variations in income for male and female individuals.

Key observations: Insights from 2023

Based on our analysis ACS 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates, we present the following observations: - All workers, aged 15 years and older: In West Melbourne, the median income for all workers aged 15 years and older, regardless of work hours, was $55,444 for males and $31,049 for females.

These income figures highlight a substantial gender-based income gap in West Melbourne. Women, regardless of work hours, earn 56 cents for each dollar earned by men. This significant gender pay gap, approximately 44%, underscores concerning gender-based income inequality in the city of West Melbourne.

- Full-time workers, aged 15 years and older: In West Melbourne, among full-time, year-round workers aged 15 years and older, males earned a median income of $83,507, while females earned $53,498, leading to a 36% gender pay gap among full-time workers. This illustrates that women earn 64 cents for each dollar earned by men in full-time roles. This level of income gap emphasizes the urgency to address and rectify this ongoing disparity, where women, despite working full-time, face a more significant wage discrepancy compared to men in the same employment roles.

Remarkably, across all roles, including non-full-time employment, women displayed a similar gender pay gap percentage. This indicates a consistent gender pay gap scenario across various employment types in West Melbourne, showcasing a consistent income pattern irrespective of employment status.

Content

When available, the data consists of estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates. All incomes have been adjusting for inflation and are presented in 2023-inflation-adjusted dollars.

Gender classifications include:

• Male
• Female

Employment type classifications include:

• Full-time, year-round: A full-time, year-round worker is a person who worked full time (35 or more hours per week) and 50 or more weeks during the previous calendar year.
• Part-time: A part-time worker is a person who worked less than 35 hours per week during the previous calendar year.

Variables / Data Columns

• Year: This column presents the data year. Expected values are 2010 to 2023
• Male Total Income: Annual median income, for males regardless of work hours
• Male FT Income: Annual median income, for males working full time, year-round
• Male PT Income: Annual median income, for males working part time
• Female Total Income: Annual median income, for females regardless of work hours
• Female FT Income: Annual median income, for females working full time, year-round
• Female PT Income: Annual median income, for females working part time

Good to know

Margin of Error

Data in the dataset are based on the estimates and are subject to sampling variability and thus a margin of error. Neilsberg Research recommends using caution when presening these estimates in your research.

Custom data

If you do need custom data for any of your research project, report or presentation, you can contact our research staff at research@neilsberg.com for a feasibility of a custom tabulation on a fee-for-service basis.

Inspiration

Neilsberg Research Team curates, analyze and publishes demographics and economic data from a variety of public and proprietary sources, each of which often includes multiple surveys and programs. The large majority of Neilsberg Research aggregated datasets and insights is made available for free download at https://www.neilsberg.com/research/.

Recommended for further research

This dataset is a part of the main dataset for West Melbourne median household income by race. You can refer the same here

60 percent of Australians were in the wealth range between 100,000 and one million U.S. dollars in 2020. Just 9.4 percent of Australian adults had wealth of over one million U.S. dollars, which was slightly less than the share of people who had under 10,000 U.S. dollars in wealth.

Wealth distribution in the Asia-Pacific

In 2020, China had the highest number of millionaires, followed by Japan and Australia. The number of millionaires in Australia was forecasted to increase from 1.8 million to three million by 2025. According to a source, among the Asia-Pacific countries, Australia ranked second in the share of wealth per adult. The source had revealed the wealth per adult in Australia was more than 483 thousand U.S. dollars in 2020.

LGBTQ community of Australia

In 2020, a survey of working adults in Australia revealed that LGBTQ adults were employed in public services and the law enforcement across the country. On the one hand, more than 38 percent of LGBTQ individuals had a role as as a team member, above 12 percent of respondents answered that they were either team leader or supervisor.

In 2022, the industry which had the highest gender pay gap in Australia was the health care and social assistance industry, in which the gender pay gap was 21.1 percent. Comparatively, the public administration and safety industry had a gender pay gap of six percent.