YOUTH EMPLOYMENT 33. In the coming decades, the number of New Zealanders over 65 is expected to more than double. Young people will be increasingly relied upon as wage earners, decision makers and leaders. Maximising the employment potential of young New Zealanders will play an even more crucial role in New Zealand’s future than it does presently. 34. The Commission highlighted youth employment in its National Conversation about Work in 2009, and then again in Tracking Equality at Work in 2011 calling it a “ticking time bomb”. The Commission also advocated for a national plan for youth employment and welcomed steps taken by the Mayor’s Taskforce for Jobs in 2012 to roll out a national youth to work strategy.34 In 2017, the Commission remains concerned about the risk of exclusion from employment for Māori and Pacific young people, for young people in deprived areas including work-poor rural communities and for disabled young people. Each of these groups is disproportionally represented in unemployment figures.35 GENDER PAY GAP 35. In September 2017, the gender pay gap was 9.4%.36 While the gender pay gap has reduced since the 1990s, being 16.3% in 1998, it has stagnated in the last decade - fluctuating between 12.5% and 9.1% between 2008-2017.37 36. The gender pay gap in the public service was 13.5% in June 2016.38 While this is higher than the average overall gender pay gap, this figure is the lowest gender pay gap in the public service since this began to be measured in 2000. As at 30 June 2016, the average salary was $80,293 for men and $69,438 for women. 37. While New Zealand has one of the narrowest gender pay gaps in the OECD, an ANZ report found that on average, kiwi women still earn $608,000 less than men over their entire lifetime. This has implications on the amount of money women can save for of their retirement and it is forecast that on average they will retire with $600,000 less than men. 38. The gender pay gap is further exacerbated when ethnicity is also taken into account. There is a: 39 ➢ 25% gap between the median earnings of Māori women and European men ➢ 28% gap between Pacific women and European men ➢ 14% gap between Māori women and European women ➢ 17% gap between Pacific women and European women 34 Mayors Taskforce for Jobs, http://www.mayorstaskforceforjobs.co.nz/home/our-work/ Tracking Equality at Work 2016, https://www.hrc.co.nz/files/5514/6725/5165/TEW_Key_findings_for_2016.pdf 36 http://women.govt.nz/work-skills/income/gender-pay-gap 37 Ibid 38 http://www.ssc.govt.nz/media-statement-report-public-service-workforce-published 39 http://www.ssc.govt.nz/public-service-workforce-data/hrc-diversity 35 8