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Australia’s engineers have seen an uptick in wages, but concerns remain around workplace conditions and gender equity.
The 2024 remuneration report from union Professional Engineers Australia comes as Australia’s aerospace sector continues to grapple with an engineering shortage, and follows strikes by Qantas engineers at major airports in recent months.
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Engineers across both the public and private sectors reported an average 3.9 per cent increase in wages in the year ending June 2024, up from 2.3 per cent in 2022, which Professional Engineers Australia CEO Sam Roberts said was “welcome news” after several years of low wage growth.
“However, engineers still report facing a broad range of workplace issues that continue to undermine their quality of life and impact their mental health,” he said.
“41 per cent of engineers still receive no compensation for overtime worked, and almost half of respondents reported workplace stress as a significant concern.
“In addition, poor management, poor workplace culture, and unreasonable workloads were frequently identified workplace issues that affected around one-third of engineers.”
The gender divide is also a concern, according to Roberts, with women making up just 13 per cent of engineers.
The report found that the gender pay gap can also reach up to $15,000 per year throughout a woman’s career in engineering, and 40 per cent of women experience higher levels of gender-based discrimination, compared to only five per cent of male engineers.
“Disturbingly, 29 per cent of women engineers reported experiencing sexual harassment, compared to only two per cent of men,” Roberts said.
“Men also consistently perceive their workplaces as more proactive in addressing sexual harassment than women do, with just 49 per cent of women believing their workplaces provided sufficient education compared with 62 per cent of men.
“Only 56 per cent of women believed that their workplaces had clear policies to prevent harassment compared with 70 per cent of men.
“These statistics demonstrate that while women are being subjected to higher levels of gender-based discrimination and harassment, engineering employers are yet to come to grips with the problem.”
A landmark government report earlier this year showed “significant gender disparity and job insecurity” in STEM, with women far more likely to be in insecure part-time and contract work.
The STEM Career Pathways report found women are more likely to be on fixed-term contracts than men and less likely to be in full-time work. Only 58 per cent of women surveyed were on permanent full-time contracts, compared to 78 per cent of men.
