The dramatic disparity between men and women in superannuation continues, according to newly released  Australian Bureau of Statistics figures for 2013-14.

At retirement age, men have an average balance of $322,000 compared with $180,000 for women, the figures show.

On average, men aged 55-64 had 79 per cent more super than women of the same age, with a dollar difference of $142,000 on balances. The median gap in balances was 88 per cent,or $150,000 for men, compared with $80,000 for women.

 “Too many Australian women are continuing to retire with substantially less superannuation than men,” said David Whiteley, Chief Executive of Industry Super Australia. 

“Unless we start to close the gap, many will be forced to rely on the pension and well below a comfortable standard of living, despite a lifetime of working hard and caring for family, in paid and unpaid roles,” he said.

Super needs a rebalance

“These figures reinforce the importance of legislating reforms to rebalance the superannuation system and put it back on a more sustainable footing,” Mr Whiteley said.

 “As a priority, the new Parliament must ensure the LISTO (Low Income Super Tax Offset) is legislated so that more than 3 million lower paid workers, mostly women, do not unfairly end up paying more tax on their super than they do on their take home pay,” said Mr Whiteley.

 “We can only do this by reining in and re-directing billions of dollars’ worth of tax concessions to those most in need.”

Men get most tax concessions

At the moment, men receive 65 per cent of tax concessions compared with 35 per cent for women. “These lop-sided tax breaks disproportionately benefit a small number of Australia’s wealthiest, highest income-earning men in no need of government assistance to help save for their retirement,” Mr Whiteley said.

 The latest ABS statistics on work patterns show 46 per cent of employed women worked part-time in May 2016. The figure has  remained steady over the last decade.

 However there has been a 3.6 percentage point increase in the number of men working part time, which has risen overall from 15 per cent of employed men in May 2006 to 18.6 per cent in May 2016, probably driven by changing work patterns as more jobs become casualised. 

 “We need to recalibrate tax concessions to ensure the people receiving them are the people who need them most,” said Mr Whiteley.

 “If we fail to meet this most basic standard of fairness, two thirds of single women retiring between now and 2055 will retire below a comfortable standard, and more than half of women currently aged 25-29 will retire on incomes below a comfortable standard.

 “Not acting to correct the imbalance now will impact heavily on pension outlays, a shrinking number of taxpayers and the overall economy as our population ages.”

The New Daily is owned by industry super funds.