$4 gender pay gap growing faster than inflation

$4 gender pay gap growing faster than inflation

The gap between the hourly pay rates of men and women grew by another 30 cents last year.

The pay gap is now $4.20 and it grew 7 percent in the last year, according to the latest Quarterly Employment Survey data.

"The government is not only ignoring the pay gap." says TEU women's vice-president Cat Pausé, "it is making it worse."

Far more women work in the public sector, so by using the State Services Commission to suppress public sector pay the government is also suppressing the pay of many women workers.

The latest Labour Cost Index data shows the public sector pay is lagging behind private sector pay. Pay for people working in the public sector rose by 1.2 percent last year whereas pay for people working in the private sector rose 1.8 percent.

Pausé says four dollars is a huge pay gap, and it is even more for Pasifika and Māori women.

"The pay gap between men and women is growing faster than inflation. The government needs to pay its own women fairly."

"But it also needs to take proactive steps to close the gap for all women - reintroduce pay and employment equity reviews, and the pay and employment equity unit," says Pausé.

"Without government actions we have gone backwards quickly."

ENDS