Gender pay gap narrows

1 November 2006

New Zealand women’s wages are growing faster than men’s, according to a Statistics New Zealand Income Survey for the June 2006 quarter. Over the last 10 years the ratio between male and female median hourly earnings has improved, from 83.0 percent in the June 1997 quarter to 87.6 percent in the June 2006 quarter, the survey said.

Over the past year, women’s average weekly income from wages or salaries has risen by 6.7 percent to $18.55, compared to a rise of only 0.4 percent to $21.46 for men. The increase has been driven by women’s higher hourly earnings rather than a rise in the number of hours worked.

The larger increase for females was mainly due to compositional and other changes across and within the paid workforce, including relative changes within industries and occupations, the survey said.

At current progress women would still be many years away from true pay and employment equity, said Council of Trade Unions Vice President Helen Kelly.

Last October’s June quarter income survey showed that women’s earnings had slumped from 86 percent of men’s earnings to almost 82 percent in the preceding year, so progress is by no means steady. Kelly said it was disappointing that the pay gap had dropped only one percent over two years.

Unionised workplaces tended to have a smaller gender pay gap, Kelly said. “They have proper negotiation of pay, and women tend to have more job security and better provisions for things like maternity leave,” she said.

Pay and Employment Equity Unit director Philippa Hall agreed, saying research showed that collective bargaining certainly helped narrow the gender pay gap, as did increasing the minimum wage. “Increasing the minimum rate helps to close the gap. It provides particular benefits to women because of the high proportion of women in low-paid work.”

She cited the Nordic countries, which were heavily unionised and had a large public sector, as leading the way in pay equity.

Minister of Women's Affairs Lianne Dalziel said her Ministry was leading the development of a joint research project with Australia to help understand the links between occupational segregation – which contributes to the gender pay gap – and economic performance.

 

Helen Kelly: How to narrow the gender pay gap.

• Removing inequality in the State Sector. “The Pay and Employment Equity Taskforce’s work [in the State Sector] should absolutely narrow the gap.”
  
• If women start getting a better deal in the state sector, eventually the private sector companies may have to consider gender pay equity. “They will be forced to compete if they want to attract and retain talent.”
  
• Rolling out a similar programme of pay equity requirements for the private sector. “There’s no reason why stuff that’s being done in the state sector can’t be done in the private sector.”