Employment (Article 11) Pay Equity and Equal Employment Opportunity 23. Pay inequity based on factors of gender, ethnicity, nation of origin, and disability continue to be a barrier to equality and equity of outcomes for women. The pay gap between women and men generally is around 9%, but measuring gender and ethnicity show that the pay gap for wāhine Māori to NZ European men is around 24%. The pay gap for Pacific women to NZ European men is around 27%.48 Pay inequity is largely unexplained even after accounting for education.49 Implementing pay transparency is a key step to realise equal employment opportunities for women.50 There is a direct link between pay inequity for women from minority ethnicities and household in-work poverty (household with a full-time worker living in poverty) in Aotearoa.51 24. Women in Aotearoa experienced the most job losses and made up 90% of people who lost their jobs at the start of the pandemic.52 In March 2021, there were 10,000 fewer women employed compared to March 2020 at the start of the pandemic – despite employment increasing overall for men,53 and the overall unemployment rate for the country falling to 3.2%.54 Disabled women in particular experience significantly poorer employment outcomes which results in disabled women bearing a disproportionate burden of poverty.55 Recommendations: (a) What steps has the Government taken to address the impact of COVID-19 on women’s employment. (b) What steps has the government taken to establish a pay transparency mechanism and legislation, that supports non-discrimination, equal opportunity and decent work. (c) Provide information on measures taken to improve employment progression and income security for wāhine Māori. (d) Provide information on measures taken by Government to improve employment progression and income security for women in the workforce, especially Pacific, disabled, and women of ethnic minorities. 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 Data from Statistics New Zealand (Stats NZ) 2021 Household Labour Force Survey data, calculated by using average hourly earnings from main wage and salary. See Cochrane, B. & Pacheco, G., “Empirical analysis of ethnic pay gaps in New Zealand” (2022) NZ Work Research Institute. As seen for Asian workers who, despite having higher tertiary level qualifications completions, do not in general receive the same return by income when compared with Europeans with relatively lower level of qualification completion. See Cochrane, B. & Pacheco, G., “Empirical analysis”, Ibid. The Commission has been lobbying the Government to legislate an end to pay secrecy and create obligations for pay Transparency. See Education and Workforce Committee “Briefing into pay transparency” (March 2022 https://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-NZ/SCR_121189/776d9dc8e62d36f94499009f952f4ff296e3a154. The highest rate being among Pacific households, followed by disabled and Asian. See Plum, A., Pacheco, G., & Hick, R., “In-Work Poverty in New Zealand” (2019) https://workresearch.aut.ac.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/326709/In-workPoverty-in-NZ_PDF.pdf. Stats NZ “COVID-19 lockdown has widespread effects on labour market” (5 August 2020) https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/covid-19-lockdown-has-widespread-effects-on-labour-market. By +1000. Lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic and among the lowest in the OECD. See Z Small “Unemployment rate unchanged at 3.2 percent, annual wage inflation rises to 3 percent” Newshub (4 May 2022) https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2022/05/unemployment-rate-unchanged-at-3-2-percent-annual-wageinflation-rises-to-3-percent.html. Disabled women have lower labour force participation rates than non-disabled women (46% versus 71%) and disabled men (46% versus 54%), have higher unemployment rates than non-disabled women (10% versus 6%) and disabled men and non-disabled men (8% versus 5%), are less likely to be in full-time employment than either non-disabled women or disabled men, and are more likely (66%) than disabled men (51%) to earn $30,000 or less. Stats NZ “Labour Market Statistics (disability) – Quarter Table 3” (June 2018) https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/labour-marketstatistics-disability-june-2018-quarter, accessed March 2020. 10