Pacific women across New Zealand will be effectively working without pay from now until 2023, said Saunoamaali’i Karanina Sumeo, Commissioner for Equal Employment Opportunity.
Sumeo said the lowest income earners are Pasifika women and their annual income is on average 25% lower than that of a Pākehā man.
“Women in the Pacific earn an average of $24,671 less than Pākehā men — that’s $474 a week. Because of the gender pay gap, women in the Pacific work effectively for free from October 3 to the end of the year.”
Sumeo’s comments come amid the findings of a labor market report on pay for men that: Māori and Pacific workers still get paid less than their European counterparts.
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The Strategic Pay and MindTheGap’s third annual report on pay for men and women, released this week, found that, on average, men of European descent are paid more than everyone else.
The report pointed to significant gaps, which could be mitigated with mandatory reporting of wage rates, and suggested that large organizations could do more to tackle inequality.
Delivered
Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner Saunoamaali’i Karanina Sumeo says that for many Pacific families, narrowing the pay gap is the difference between surviving and thriving.
In its latest study, the Pacific Pay Gap . of the Human Rights Commission found that for every $1 a Pākehā man earnsa Pākehā woman earns 89c, an Asian man and a Māori man 86c, an Asian woman 83c, a Pacific man and a Māori woman both earn 81c and a Pacific woman 75c.
Compared to the average hourly wage of European men, the latest report shows that Pasifika men earn 22.9% less, Māori men 16.7% less and Māori men 23% less.
“Asian men and women earn 10.8% and 17.4% less than European men, with workers from the Middle East, Latin America and Africa at 19%,” the report said.
“European women have 11.9% less and women in the ‘other ethnicity’ group earn less than 22%.”
The report estimated that it would take another $17.6 billion a year in wages and salaries to raise the average ethnic and gender pay to match that of Pākehā men – about 11% of total wages and salaries.
While the overall gender pay gap had improved slightly over the past year at 16.7% from 18.5%, the analysis found that: more work was needed.
Cathy Hendry, director of Strategic Pay, said that when the analysis is broadened to ethnicity, the sheer magnitude of the shortage experienced by women and ethnic minorities reinforces the need for employers to fully address the pay gap.
“These inequalities are not easy to fix — we need to address the systemic and structural gender and racial inequalities that exist in the labor market and in society,” Hendry said.
Delivered
Cathy Hendry, Managing Director of Strategic Pay, says women had higher qualifications on average than men, which is expected to lead to higher wages.
She said the job rating systems could be helpful, but better data was needed, including mandatory reporting of wage differences in large organizations in the private and public sectors.
The Strategic Pay report is based on data from more than 192,000 employees in 1,141 public, private and nonprofit organizations.
The report also found that women had higher qualifications on average than men, which is expected to lead to higher wages.
“Organizations need to play their part and address their own pay gaps and explore unconscious biases in hiring and promotion,” Hendry said.
“Employers could address inequality by introducing a formal job evaluation system.”
Sumeo said to many Pacific families: closing the pay gap is the difference between surviving and thriving.
“The sad reality is that our families in the Pacific are missing out on health, safety and freedom opportunities and experiences,” she said.
Sumeo said the Pacific Pay Gap Inquiry will launch its report next week with recommendations for the government to urgently close the pay gap.