Nearly a million Australians have reported feeling discriminated against by their employers over the recent years, a new University of Melbourne study has found.

The survey of Australian households has revealed that 854,000 workers feel discriminated against by their employer because of their gender, age, ethnicity, religion or parenting responsibilities.

Melbourne’s Professor Roger Wilkins said that approximately 480,000 Australian workers had actively discriminated against them over the past two years, while 270,000 workers felt they had been discriminated against on the basis of gender.

"Many Australians feel they've been treated unfairly in the workplace," Associate Professor Wilkins said.

"Age discrimination is the most common experience, which perhaps shouldn't be surprising given Australia's ageing population."

Age discrimination was also widely reported among job seekers, with 300,000 older Australians feeling unfairly judged when applying for a position.

Key facts from the study include:

  • Perceived discrimination is higher among women, indigenous Australian, immigrants (especially those from non-Asian, non-English speaking countries), and followers of non-Christian religions.
  • However, this seems to be because they reside in other highly discriminated against categorises (age, education, income, etc) and not because of their ethnic or religious identity.
  • Women with young children are more likely to report discrimination in the workplace, but notwhen applying for jobs.
  • Both men and women are more likely to believe they have been discriminated against in their job if more than 70 per cent of employees in their industry are of the opposite sex.