Forty per cent Aussies saw income fall

Forty per cent of Australians say their income fell between 2001 and 2005, despite the former federal government claiming the period was a golden age.

And for those who did enjoy a rise in income, the median gain was significantly less than the overall growth in the national economy.

For most people, equivalent incomes - adjusted for size of household - did rise between 2001 and 2005, according to a report to be published Monday by the Melbourne Institute for Applied Economic and Social Research.

But fewer than expected were counted among the winners, according to the research based on a longitudinal survey of about 12,000 homes and known as the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA).

"During this period, the national economy grew approximately 10 per cent and GDP per capita grew by close to 7 per cent," the researcher's lead author and HILDA deputy director, Bruce Headey, wrote.

"So it is an interesting and only partly explained puzzle that ... only 58 per cent of Australian residents recorded a gain in equivalent income. Further, the median gain was just 5.2 per cent."

Couples aged 24-54 and with no children, most of whom were double-income earners, fared the best while single mothers also did well, but off a low base, according to the research.

Women's battle for equal pay continues

ALMOST 40 years after it became unlawful to pay women less than men for equal work of equal value, women are still earning on average $196 a week less than men.

"To match the average wage a man earns in 12 months in the financial year working full time ordinary hours, a woman has to work an extra 54 days, or a total of 14 weeks, to earn the same,'' Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency director Anna McPhee said.

Today, 54 days after the end of the financial year, has been declared Equal Pay Day by those fighting to end pay inequity.

Ms McPhee's agency is calling on employers to mark the day by holding a pay audit in their workplaces.

She wants employers to ensure they have transparent pay scales and promotion criteria, a meaningful work valuation assessment and flexible work practices for all staff.

The Federal Government has established a parliamentary inquiry into pay equity, which is due to begin soon, and the ACTU is calling for annual reporting of gender pay data by all employers.

Ms McPhee said the 15.6 per cent gender wage gap reveals the systemic discrimination and under-valuation of women's work and believes the inequity hurts not just women but their families and society as a whole.

TAFE teachers protest for more pay

Classes at TAFE campuses in central Victoria are expected to be disrupted by a teachers' protest in Melbourne today.

TAFE teachers are holding a stop-work meeting in Melbourne this morning as they step up their campaign for better pay and more permanent positions.

The union's Greg Barclay says poor pay is driving people away from the profession.

He says about 60 per cent of the work force is employed casually.

Mr Barclay says regional teachers are growing angrier about the way they are being treated.

"We are the most underpaid TAFE teachers in all of Australia, we're about $21,000 behind TAFE teachers in New South Wales and around about $13,000 behind secondary school teachers here in Victoria," he said.