The gender pay gap for data analysts in Australia has significantly widened despite salaries increasing on average in the sector, according to a new report.

The Institute of Analytics Professionals of Australia (IAPA) has released its Skills and Salary Survey 2023, revealing that salaries for data analysts in Australia have increased by 10 per cent in the last three years.

But the data revealed an “alarming” increase in the gender pay gap amongst these professionals, with women data analysts paid 18 per cent less than their male counterparts. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the gender pay gap across the Australian economy is 13 per cent.

The gender pay gap for data analysts has grown over recent years, from 10 per cent in 2017.

“While many organisations have strategies in place and many leaders are actively and meaningfully busy looking to close these gaps, it’s helpful to have the IAPA-validated number to bring those efforts to life,” IAPA chair Antony Ugoni said.

The discrepancy becomes more significant as individuals become more senior within an organisation, with both sexes starting on the same entry-level salary on average and the gap presenting most significantly in manager and general management roles.

On average, general managers who are men are paid $277,000 annually while women are paid $228,000, and male managers are paid $226,000 while women receive $195,750 annually, the data shows.

Call to action

These figures are a call to action for the industry to immediately address pay inequality, Flybuys head of program analytics Jane McCarthy said.

“There’s simply no reason this should be an issue in 2023,” McCarthy said.

“Clearly, we need all data leaders to be looking at any pay discrepancies in their teams and actively addressing them.

“I would also encourage women to have the conversation with their managers, both in current roles and during negotiations for new roles.

“Women should be asking their managers to ensure when they’re making decisions about pay, they look at the pay scale for men in similar roles and make fair decisions and offers based on that, rather than simply applying percentage increases on current salary.

“This will only continue to drive this pay gap.”

According to Mastering Snowflake founder Adam Morton, a contributing factor to this is men being more confident in asking for pay increases and bonuses.

“The female workforce undervalues their skills way more – they're more reluctant to ask for more money, which shouldn’t be an issue based on the skills they have, compared to a male with similar experience and skills,” Morton said.

“I see it all the time: you put two resumes in front of people, get rid of the names and anything that would reveal gender, and I’m always surprised based on people’s skills how little they ask for.”

The survey found that the median full-time salary for analytics professionals is $158,000, representing a 4 per cent compound annual growth rate from 2017.

This is up from an average annual salary of $130,000 in 2017.

This growth has been driven by the middle 50 per cent of paid professionals in the sector, with the bottom 10 per cent and top 5 per cent seeing slight declines in average salaries.

The opportunity of AI

The report also found that artificial intelligence is offering an “exceptional opportunity” for data analysts to “redefine and supercharge their careers”.

The survey found that 21 per cent of respondents are currently embracing generative artificial intelligence, while 55 per cent see AI and machine learning technical skills as critical to develop over the coming years.

“Those who wait face a missed opportunity to create even more impact for their organisations, and further develop their careers,” the report said.

For the surveyed data analysts, the number one issue they are facing is prioritisation, with 45 per cent of respondents listing it as a key concern.

“The quality of output from our teams, along with the collegiate and collaborative environments we are fostering, means handover conversations typically spur a desire for more from us,” Ugoni said.

“Every question answered opens exciting avenues of inquiry never imagined.

“We are unlikely to get to the bottom of the workstack, so prioritisation and stakeholder management are now front of mind for our leaders.”

Job satisfaction for data analysts has remained steady since 2017, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, with 70 per cent of respondents saying they are happy or satisfied in their roles.

“Despite the turbulence of recent years and the increased pressure to demonstrate value creation, Australian analytics professionals remain in a similarly positive frame of mind as they did six years ago,” the report said.

And this satisfaction had no direct connection with pay grade either, with the median salary for “markedly happy” respondents being $6,000 lower than those who are “slightly happy”.

Disclaimer: IAPA is owned by ACS, publisher of Information Age.