Māori, Pacific pay gaps also hit record lows
The gender pay gap at New Zealand's public service has declined to 7.1%, its lowest ever on record, according to data from the Public Service Commission (PSC).
The current pay gap data is 0.6 percentage points lower than last year's figures and is much lower than the current overall gender pay gap of 8.6%.
"[This] shows how the public service can lead by example in closing pay gaps and promoting diversity," said Duane Leo, National Secretary for the Public Service Association (PSA) Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi, in a statement.
Leo attributed the decline to the practical action plans agreed by the PSA and employers.
In 2018, the government launched the Public Service Gender Pay Gap Action Plan which outlines a set of actions to help close gender, Māori, Pacific, and ethnic pay gaps in the Public Service.
Since its launch, the gender pay gap in public service has decreased by 5.1 percentage points, according to the PSC data.
Meanwhile, the Māori and Pacific pay gaps also declined to their lowest on record, according to PSC data.
The Māori pay gap fell to 5.4%, a decrease of 1.1 percentage points from the 6.5% in 2022.
The Pacific pay gap also fell to 16.6%, also declining by 1.1 percentage points from the 17.7% a year ago.
"We are also starting to see a wider impact on ethnic pay gaps but there continues to be more work to be done," the PSC said on its website.
The Asian pay gap increased 0.6 percentage points in 2023 to 13%, but the group has been seeing higher representation in the public service in recent years, according to the commission.
"This means an increasing number, and proportion, of Asian employees are new recruits than in the past," the PSC said. "This is likely to be counteracting improvements in pay gaps."
The data comes amid stronger calls to the private sector to narrow the gender and ethnic pay gaps within their workforce.
"We urge the private sector take note and redouble its own efforts to create pay transparency and do what's needed to get rid of unjustifiable pay differences by gender and ethnicity," Leo said.
Early this year, the New Zealand government committed to launching a pay gap reporting system for organisations with over 250 employees in a bid to narrow the pay gap in the country.
