Working For Free For Seven Weeks – The Gender Pay Gap Is Not Closing Fast Enough

Thursday, 17 August 2023, 10:11 am
Press Release: NZCTU

There has been disappointingly little progress in closing the gender pay gap in the last year despite continued low unemployment, wage growth, and strong labour demand says NZCTU Secretary Melissa Ansell-Bridges following the release of labour market data by Statistics NZ.

The overall gender pay gap has persisted across the past decade.

Last year, the NZCTU calculated that on average women started working effectively for free on 23 November 2022. This year the data shows that this has now closed slightly to 26 November.

NZCTU National Secretary Melissa Ansell-Bridges said, “Ten years ago women started working for free on 14 November. Despite all the huge strides we have made since then in terms of pay equality, we are still working 36 days a year for free. It underlines the need for more urgent effort from employers and the Government on this issue.”

When ethnicity is taken into consideration, the picture is even starker. The gap for Pasifika women means that in comparison to Pakeha men, they start working for free on 7 October. Māori women start working for free on 20 October. European women start working for free on 21 November. These dates show that women of all ethnicities are still facing discrimination in employment.

“With the mean gender wage gap now at 9.8%, the case for change could not be clearer. All employers should make sure that equal work is paid equally. We need greater pay transparency urgently. Last week’s announcement on pay reporting by the Government is a great start, but we need to go further and faster.

“These results show why the ethnic pay gap must also be reported on. We should also ban clauses in contracts preventing workers discussing their pay and require employers to include pay ranges in job adverts.

“This data underlines why Fair Pay Agreements are critical in New Zealand. They will provide transparency around basic pay for all workers and will ensure that women are not treated unfairly.

“Fair Pay Agreements will help reduce pay gaps and will highlight inequities in workplace pay. Not only are they good for women, but they are also good for all New Zealand workers.”

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New Zealand Council of Trade Unions

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