Statistics, damn statistics and the gender pay gap

Calculating the gender pay gap continues to be a fraught business. It looks wide or wider depending on the figures used, either median hourly earnings or average hourly earnings.

Here’s the latest on the gender pay gap for easy reference.

Latest statistics from the 2007 Social Report show there is little difference in earnings between men and women in age groups under the age of 30 years. The difference between sexes in median hourly earnings is greatest at ages 50-54 years where female earnings are only 78% of those received by men.

The report states that in 2006 the difference between the sexes in median hourly earnings for wage and salary earners was most evident in age groups over 30 years. Overall the ratio of female to male median hourly earnings rose from 83% in June 1997 to 88% in June 2006.

“This gap comes at a time when women are trying to maximise their earnings for family reasons and to build assets for retirement and old age,” says EEO Commissioner Dr Judy McGregor.

The New Zealand Income Survey is another data set that refers to pay equity. Average (mean) hourly earnings for the June 2007 quarter indicated the gender pay gap is around 16% with women earning 84% of the hourly rate paid to men. This is a 2% increase on June 2005.

The Quarterly Employment Survey is another way of calculating the difference between men’s and women’s earnings. In September 2007 average ordinary hourly earnings for females was up 1.6% to $21.32 and males were up 1% to $24.49 for the same period. The gender pay gap using this data set is 13 per cent with women earning 87% of the average hourly rate of men.