The importance of decent work in reducing poverty is reinforced through its inclusion in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to which the New Zealand Government has committed. Global Goal 8 on Decent Work and Economic Growth aims to ‘promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all’. Are Aotearoa New Zealand’s working households in poverty enjoying the right to decent work? When assessing the implementation of the right to decent work and fair working conditions in Aotearoa New Zealand, the prevalence of poverty in working households indicates that we fall short – insufficient access to decent work and fair pay means workers are not receiving sufficient income to enable them to live in dignity.15 The fact that working households experiencing poverty spend half their income on rent indicates that people are struggling to meet basic living costs. There has been a failure to ensure the ‘right of access to employment, especially for disadvantaged and marginalized individuals and groups, permitting them to live a life of dignity’.16 The different experiences of poverty from working households with children, women-led households, and households comprising of migrants, ethnic minorities, or disabled people, indicates that there is unequal enjoyment of the right to decent work. This is a failure on the part of the New Zealand government to take sufficient steps to realise the right to decent work, particularly for those most disproportionately experiencing poverty in working households. This assessment is consistent with the view of the United Nations, in particular the Concluding Observations made by CESCR during its review of the New Zealand government’s implementation of the right to decent work in 2018. The Committee expressed concern about underemployment in Aotearoa New Zealand, and the particularly high rates of unemployment among Māori and Pacific peoples and how women and disabled people are more likely to be unemployed, as well as the high numbers of youth, particularly among Māori, Pacific peoples and disabled people, who are not in employment, education or training.17 These trends observed by the UN both fuel poverty in working households, and provide barriers to alleviating the poverty cycle for those most vulnerable. One of the factors that CESCR identified, which may go some way towards helping us understand why households containing disabled workers are disproportionately poorer, is the fact that disabled people may be paid lower salaries, below the minimum wage.18 The Committee also identified other problem areas that we see reflected in the poverty in working households statistics above, such as the working conditions of migrant workers, which are characterised by excessive working hours and non-payment or underpayment of wages.19 This is linked to racial discrimination and various forms of migrant exploitation. It is difficult for working migrants and ethnic minorities to avoid the poverty trap, when many are employed in precarious employment in industries where there is significant non-compliance by employers with employment laws.20 On the issue of precarious employment, which is a factor in poverty in working households, the Committee also noted its concern about the prevalence of workplace deaths and injuries in the agriculture, forestry and construction sectors,21 which engage a high proportion of Māori workers – industries where there is also a higher prevalence of workers from households experiencing poverty. The Committee also observed that women are a particular group at risk of not having access to decent work, and therefore more at risk of poverty, because they are ‘are disproportionately engaged in multiple employment’ and ‘more likely to be engaged in part-time, casual and low-paid employment, constituting an obstacle to eliminating the gender wage gap and affecting women’s pension benefits when they retire’.22 The Committee expressed concern that the principle of equal pay for work of equal value is not being fully respected.23 It also pointed out the failure of the government to lift its reservation to Article 8 and remove the legal restrictions on trade union rights,24 which the Commission believes is an obstacle to alleviating poverty given the relationship between union membership and lower rates of poverty in working households. These identified failings on the part of the government of Aotearoa New Zealand support what the data shows us, that there is still significant progress to be made to ensure the full enjoyment of the right to decent work as a way of reducing poverty in our country. He Urupare Tika Tangata mō te Pōharatanga ō ngā Whānau Whaimahi 11