Pay Equity 2025

As submissions to the People's Select Committee on Pay Equity draw to a close this month, we have been exploring (at their request) what regular reporting would look like, were it to inform government and the wider public about progress and remaining gaps in equity of remuneration.

We began with where pay equity is most evident in the gender pay gap ($/hr) and gender differentiated retirement savings. We know that IRD use anonymised meta analysis to inform decisions about school funding throughout the country and are confident that similar data sources can be used to give clear reporting on these measures. KiwiSaver, being a mandated retirement savings scheme provides an indication of how women are able to save as a proportion of their income, although we acknowledge it is not a complete picture due to private retirement savings funds.

Another aspect that impacts pay equity is the time that women must take out of the workforce or diverting their career path when they become parents. Many women change jobs rather than returning to the position held for them through parental leave in order to find work closer to their child or with shorter hours, often with a corresponding reduction in income. If we measure the magnitude of this shift in our workforce we'll be able to understand how this is impacting women's career paths and what goes into the 8.3% reduction in income that women see by taking parental leave.

Parental leave in Aotearoa can be assigned to a second parent. It is unpaid leave and a parent is paid by IRD for up to 6 months between them. There are perhaps obvious and logistical reasons why the parent who earns least before the child is born should take a larger portion of parental leave, and with the gender pay gap favouring most second parents, it is unsurprising that women spend longer away from their work and career in this situation.

In Sweden 90 (of 480) days parental leave is specifically available to the father. Swedish econometric study (Johansson, 2010) surveyed approximately 9,000 families in Sweden and found that for every month of parental leave a father takes, the mother's future income increases by an average of 6.7%. Monitoring this metric in Aotearoa NZ will encourage a more even distribution of domestic responsibilities, income levels, and unpaid work in the community.

The final part of the puzzle that allows us to measure pay equity are those in our community who are unable to enjoy the benefits of supporting themselves with work, and are therefore disadvantaged regarding pay equity. This includes identifying the gender differentiation of people on a benefit (job seeker, supported living payment, single parent support, or superannuation), those living in government housing (including emergency housing), and homelessness.

We are also aware of the intersectionality of these gendered inequities and so similar reporting of ethnicity, age (e.g. 10 year bands), and migrant and disabled women regarding the above matters would also build an informed picture of pay equity in Aotearoa NZ.