$1.00 that a non-Māori/Pacific man earns.90 This finding aligns with previous research in the tertiary sector that showed Māori and Pacific academics experience systemic structural disadvantage and institutional racism.91 Within the core public service departments and district health boards (DHBs), Pacific peoples also continue to be underrepresented in salaries above $100,000.92 This problem continues today, as suggested by more-recent data from the Public Service Commission, which found that the Pacific Pay Gap based on average pay for Pacific and non-Pacific employees was at 17.9% percent in December 2021.93 This research identified a significant gap between stated policy aims and practice on the ground within core public service departments and DHBs. Came et al.’s conclusion was that the data is the result of the differential access to resources, cultural capital and political power that is experienced, dependent on ethnicity.94 Research on ethnic and gender pay gaps in other countries such as the US and the UK have found similar problems and explanations. While some have found evidence for conventional explanations for their ethnic and gender pay gaps,95 others have found that it cannot be explained by education levels and choice of occupation alone. In fact, researchers in the UK argue that the ability of people to choose their occupation must be questioned. This is because evidence shows that different socioeconomic and ethnic groups have different employment opportunities.96 The ability of individuals to freely choose their occupation is limited as different socioeconomic groups have different opportunities for occupational choice,97 and these ‘choices’ are strongly influenced by social expectations and stereotypes.98 Furthermore, research about the gender pay gap in the US has found that up to 41.1 percent of the overall gender pay gap is left unexplained when education, industry and experience are controlled, suggesting that discrimination perpetuates the gender pay gap99 and that external social factors such as educational inequity and societal expectations also play a significant role.100 90 McAllister et al., “Glass Ceilings in New Zealand Universities,” 276. 91 Kidman and Chu, “‘We’re not the Hottest Ethnicity’,” 492; Naepi, Sereana. “Why isn’t my Professor Pasifika?” MAI Journal: A New Zealand Journal of Indigenous Scholarship 8, no. 2 (2019): 221; Naepi, Sereana, et al. “Where Are We Now? Patterns of Māori and Pasifika Enrolment in the Natural and Physical Science and Society and Culture Fields in Aotearoa New Zealand,” Higher Education Research & Development 40, no. 1 (2021): 90-91; Naepi, Sereana, et al. “The Pakaru ‘Pipeline’: Māori and Pasifika Pathways Within the Academy.” New Zealand Annual Review of Education (2020): 154-155; Theodore, Reremoana. et al. “Equity in New Zealand University Graduate Outcomes: Māori and Pacific Graduates.” Higher Education Research & Development 37, no. 1 (2018): 207-208; Theodore, Reremoana, et al. “Pacific University Graduates in New Zealand: What Helps and Hinders Completion.” AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples 14, no. 2 (2018): 138-139. 92 Came et al., “Ethnic Pay Disparities,” 77. This was established in a research project that collected data in five-year intervals between 2001-2016. 93 Public Service Commission. Ngā āputa utu mā te Māori, mā te hunga nō te Moana a Kiwa, me ngā mātāwaka | Gender, Māori, Pacific and ethnic pay gaps. Public Service Commission. November 15, 2021. https://www.publicservice.govt.nz/ourwork/pay-gaps-and-pay-equity/gender-maori-pacific-and-ethnic-pay-gaps/. 94 Came et al., “Ethnic Pay Disparities,” 77. 95 Coghlan, Erin. State Policy Strategies for Narrowing the Gender Wage Gap. Berkeley: Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, 2018, 2. https://irle.berkeley.edu/files/2018/04/IRLE-State-Policy-Strategies-for-Narrowing-the-Gender-WageGap.pdf. 96 Longhi, Simonetta, and Malcolm Brynin. The Ethnicity Pay Gap. Sussex: Institute for Social and Economic Research University of Sussex, 2017, 19. https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/research-report-108-the-ethnicity-pay-gap.pdf. 97 Longhi and Brynin, The Ethnicity Pay Gap, 24, 69; Brown, Duncan, Catherine Rickard, and Andrea Broughton. Tackling Gender, Disability and Ethnicity Pay Gaps: A Progress Review. Brighton: Institute for Employment Studies, 2017, 13. https://www. equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/research-report-110-tackling-gender-disability-ethnicity-pay-gaps.pdf. 98 Equality and Human Rights Commission. Fair Opportunities for All: A Strategy to Reduce Pay Gaps in Britain. Manchester: Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2017, 21. https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/pay-gapsstrategy-fair-opportunities-for-all.pdf. 99 Davis, Alyssa, and Elise Gould. Closing the Pay Gap and Beyond: A Comprehensive Strategy for Improving Economic Security for Women and Families.(Washington DC: Economic Policy Institute, 2015, 202. https://www.epi.org/publication/closing-the-paygap-and-beyond/. 100 Davis and Gould, Closing the Pay Gap and Beyond, 202. Pacific Pay Gap Inquiry Literature Review 19