THERE’S more than $150,000 difference in men and women’s retirement savings by the time they’re ready to leave the workforce, a new report has found.
COTA NSW used International Women’s Day to launch its report The Super Bias: An Insecure Future, which highlights superannuation disparities between genders.
It shows the average amount of accumulated super at retirement was $292,510 for men and only $138,154 for women.
To combat the gap, COTA NSW is calling on the federal government to pay super on Centrelink benefits and allowances up until age pension eligibility age.
The advocacy group’s chief executive, Meagan Lawson, said the results should ring alarm bells.
“Every woman should earn superannuation on every dollar they earn, but they don’t,” she said.
“This report makes for sobering reading.
“Our survey found that women continue to earn less than men over their lifetimes, with the gender pay gap at its largest just before retirement.
“We found that on average a 60- to 64-year old-woman is earning 76.3 cents for every dollar her male colleague is earning.”
The current scheme requires employers to pay 9.5 per cent super when the employee earns $450 or more per month.
“The current law discriminates against many women’s superannuation earning potential,” Ms Lawson said.
“We see many industries moving to a more casualised workforce and this will only make the problem worse. In the age of no longer ‘cutting a cheque’, all political parties need to recognise that the $450 threshold is no longer defensible.”
The report called for the government to overhaul the system and remove the $450 monthly pay threshold for the super guarantee.
More than 7600 older people in NSW were surveyed as part of the report.
“The stories that women ... have shared show just how quickly and easily a woman’s economic security can be derailed by unpredictable life events, at any time: relationship breakdowns, caring responsibilities, serious illness,” Ms Lawson said.
“Action is needed now to level the playing field for older women and try and stem the rising tide of women left behind by an income retirement system that reinforces gender inequality, and fails to address the entrenched disadvantage that women face at what is often the most vulnerable time of their lives.”
Other recommendations from the report included:
- Increasing Commonwealth rent assistance payments by 30 per cent
- Allowing women to contribute $1000 more per year to their super
- Establishing and resourcing an integrated retirement income policy framework
- Implementing the planned super guarantee rate increase to 12 per cent
