The most male-dominated industries in Australia consistently include Construction, Mining, Transport, Postal & Warehousing, and Electricity, Gas, Water & Waste Services, with Construction often topping the list, showing extremely high male participation rates (around 87% in 2020 data), followed closely by Mining and Transport, reflecting significant gender segregation.
The Health Care and Social Assistance and Education and Training industries are increasingly dominated by women. Many of the male-dominated industries, including Wholesale Trade, Manufacturing, Electricity, Gas and Water and Waste Services and Mining have seen an improvement in female representation.
Industry Share of Output key sectors
Health and Education 13.9%, Finance 7.7%, Mining 9.9%, Manufacturing 5.7%, Construction 7.6%.
Industries with the highest pay rates have the highest gender pay gaps. In three industries, Mining, Electricity, Water and Waste Services and Financial and Insurance Services, 90% or more employers have a gender pay gap in favour of men and more than 80% of those employers have a gender pay gap above 9.1%.
Heavily male-dominated industries — such as finance, insurance, science and tech — have the widest gender pay gaps. Legal and sales occupations have the biggest differences in earnings between women and men.
Careers with the highest concentration of women workers include teachers, childcare workers, and healthcare professionals. When choosing the best career, it's important women consider their interests, strengths, and goals in and out of the workplace.
Yes, $70k is a fair salary in Australia, often near the median income, making it a decent living for a single person, especially outside major cities, but it can be tight in expensive areas or for those with high living costs like mortgages, with full-time averages now closer to $90k-$100k.
Western Australia (WA) is generally considered Australia's richest state, consistently topping economic performance rankings due to its strong mining sector, high exports (especially iron ore), and significant economic growth, leading in metrics like Gross State Product (GSP) per capita and overall economic strength.
MANLIEST JOBS
Based on the most recent data available, Computer Science and Engineering tend to be the most male-dominated majors in colleges. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that 79% of Engineering and 81% of Computer Science degrees are awarded to men.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Current Population Survey, young men in their early to mid-20s were most likely to cite education as their reason for not looking for work. And Gen Z, more than previous generations, tends to treat school like a full-time job.
In terms of which industries employed the most men, Lensa found that construction is 89% male, out of the 10,030,000 people employed across it.
No, Australia is not 90% white; while a large majority identify with European ancestry (around 76-80% in recent years), a significant and growing portion identifies as Asian, African, Middle Eastern, or Indigenous, making it a highly multicultural nation with diverse ethnic backgrounds, not overwhelmingly white. Recent census data shows European ancestry (English, Irish, etc.) makes up a large chunk, but Asian ancestries are also substantial, with over 17% Asian population and around 3.8% identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, per the 2021 census data from Wikipedia.
Most tradies are men. According to Charles Sturt University, an overwhelming percentage - something like 97% of tradies - are men. But something powerful is happening.
Jobs paying $500k+ in Australia are primarily in highly specialized fields like Medical Specialists (surgeons, anaesthetists), Senior Finance/Executive Roles (CFO, Head of Treasury, Investment Directors), and high-end Sales & Construction Management (Elite Stockbrokers, Senior Project Managers/Estimators in complex sectors). While roles like Neurosurgeon and Ophthalmologist average well over $500k, achieving this in other sectors often involves performance-based bonuses or leading major projects, with opportunities listed on job boards like SEEK and Jora.
Here are the Most Profitable Businesses to Start in 2026.
According to ABS data, just 2.61 million Aussies – or about 10 per cent of the population – earn $100,000 or more a year. Many people will never reach a six-figure income in their working lives.
How to avoid paying higher-rate tax
The average Australian full-time worker is now earning more than $2000 a week for the first time in history. New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show the average ordinary full-time weekly earnings for adults hit $2011.40 before tax in May.
There's no single #1 happiest job universally, but Firefighters consistently rank high for job satisfaction due to their sense of purpose, while Care Workers, Counsellors, Content Creators, and IT roles (Java Devs, Systems Analysts) also appear frequently on "happiest" lists for fulfillment, autonomy, or good pay/balance. Overall, jobs with meaning, helping others, nature connection, strong coworker bonds, or good work-life balance tend to be cited as happiest.
Some of the most male-dominated fields in the United States include:
Among the industries shown in Table 2.6, the gender earnings ratio is widest in finance, insurance, and real estate (61.8 percent) and narrowest in mining and construction (95.2 percent), an industry that employs proportionately far fewer women than men.