Gender pay gap: Why young women are beating young men in the job search

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Why young women are beating young men in the job search – and earning more

Millie Muroi Economics Writer September 19, 2025 — 5.00am

COVID-19 changed the way we work, the skills we seek, and the types of jobs going around. But in the years since the pandemic, one of the biggest changes has been a leap in employment – especially for young women.

Since the pandemic, the unemployment rate of women under 35 has averaged about 1 percentage point below that of men the same age (the largest gap, in either direction, in two decades). And over the past decade, the gender pay gap per hour has narrowed from 11.5 per cent to 8 per cent.

We already know Australian women are finishing university at higher rates than men. But research by e61 economis