The NTEU's second wage theft report reveals the shocking depth of systemic underpayments in Australian universities, finding more than 97,000 university staff have suffered a collective $159 million in wage theft.

The analysis of 55 incidents of wage theft across 32 institutions reveals $158,711,178 in underpayments affecting 97,555 individual staff.

The vast majority of the underpayments have occurred since 2014. The true tally is likely much higher with eight wage theft cases potentially worth millions of dollars still ongoing.

Victoria leads the nation in university wage theft with $75 million ahead of NSW at $65 million and Tasmania at $11 million.