16 Aug 2023

Could mandatory reporting help close the pay gap?

From Nine To Noon, 9:15 am on 16 August 2023
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Photo: 123rf

The latest figures on how much more money men earn relative to women is out, with women 8.6 percent behind this quarter.

Those figures from Stats NZ measure median hourly earnings - with a rise for women of 7.7 in the year to June quarter to reach $30.15. Men were up 7.0 percent  - making their median hourly take home pay $33. The gender pay gap has dropped from 16.2 percent when figures looking at the issue were first reported  - in 1998.

But pay gap campaigners say these stats only paint part of the picture - because it doesn't take ethnicity into account. For every dollar a Pakeha man makes, a Pakeha woman earns 89 cents, a Māori or Asian man 86 cents, Asian woman 83, Pasifika man or Māori  woman 81...and a Pasifika woman earns just 75 cents.

Last week the government announced an intention to get 900 entities with over 250 employees to publicly report their gender pay gap - widening to those over 100 workers ...after four years.

Susie speaks with two people who are very concerned about the pay gap and public reporting of it are Dellwyn Stuart, co-founder of Mind the Gap and Latayvia Tualasea Tautai, Pasifika advocate and project manager at YWCA Auckland.