Source: NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi is saying there is still huge work to do to ensure pay equity for women following the release of new data by Stats NZ that shows the gender pay gap remains largely unchanged.
Mean female wages rose only 0.2%. While women’s median pay rose 3.3%, this was in large part due to collective bargaining and pay equity settlements, which this Government has gutted. The CTU uses the mean figure as it better reflects the full diversity of wages in the economy.
“While Stats NZ prefer a measure that makes it look like there has been significant progress on the pay gap, in reality the average working woman in New Zealand is hardly better off,” said NZCTU Secretary Melissa Ansell-Bridges.
“The difference between the median and the mean likely reflects a lack of progress towards the gender pay gap outside of collectively bargained workforces. It has shifted the value for the middle worker – not for those on the lowest or highest incomes.
“It is likely that the progress made through collective bargaining has shifted the needle on the median wage. Increases in incomes for teaching, nursing, and other female-dominated public sector workforces have helped to close the gap.
“Pay equity settlements in some public sector workforces also likely helped, proving the success of the pay equity system in delivering real change in living standards.
“This data will represent the high-water mark for pay equity progress. The gutting of pay equity, and the below inflation offers for collective agreements in the public sector, means that the progress is unlikely to be sustained.
“At a time when we need to build on progress, the Government is deliberating preventing pay equity for some of the lowest paid women in our society,” said Ansell-Bridges.
