Average hourly earnings by gender and ethnicity:
recent years
Gender pay gap data since 1997 has shown Māori and Pacific women being paid the least, and gender/ethnicity pay gaps are not closing. The structural inequality in the New Zealand labour market is shown by the very large gaps between average (and median pay) for Māori and Pacific women and Pākehā men, the group whose average pay is the highest.
The following table shows the average hourly earnings for the main gender/ethnicity group in New Zealand as at June 2018, followed by percentage comparisons between the groups. The second part of the table makes some comparisons between the different gender/ ethnicity groups. It compares each of the groups of women in the left hand column with each of the groups across the top line. The lowest paid groups are Māori and Pacific women. The greatest gaps are with Pākehā men, and this comparison is highlighted with bold type.
| All women | All men | Ratio | All Māori | All Pākehā | Ratio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $27.41 | $31.82 | 86.14% | $25.17 | $31.01 | 81.17% | |
| Women | Men | Average | ||||
| Pākehā | $28.38 | $33.59 | 31.01% | |||
| Māori | $24.26 | $26.08 | 25.17% | |||
| Pacific | $23.01 | $26.03 | 24.58% | |||
| Asian | $25.92 | $28.67 | 27.35% | |||
| Pākehā women | Māori men | Pacific men | Asian men | Pākehā men | All men | |
| Pākehā women | --- | 108.8% | 109% | 98.99% | 84.45% | 89.19% |
| Māori women | 85.48% | 93.02% | 93.02% | 84.62% | 72.22% | 76.24% |
| Pacific women | 81.08% | 88.23% | 88.4% | 80.23% | 68.5% | 72.31% |
| Asian women | 91.33% | 99.39% | 99.58% | 90.4% | 77.17% | 81.46% |
*: This category from 2009 includes origins in the Indian peninsula, South East Asia and East Asia regions, a population now twice as large as the New Zealand Pacific population. Another new category compiles Middle East, South American and African origins (17,000 people in 2010). (Culturally and economically, these categories are confusing, in our view. New immigrant groups may not yet have a normal population profile (ie few children and old people in NZ) which can distort labour market statistics.)
The following table shows the average hourly earnings for the main gender/ethnicity groups as at June 2017, followed by percentage comparisons between the groups.
| All women | All men | Ratio | All Māori | All Pākehā | Ratio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $26.70 | $30.74 | 86.86% | $24.81 | $30.09 | 82.45% | |
| Women | Men | Average | ||||
| Pākehā | $27.60 | $32.54 | $28.78 | |||
| Māori | $23.65 | $25.90 | $24.81 | |||
| Pacific | $22.17 | $23.90 | $23.08 | |||
| Asian* | $25.90 | $27.75 | $26.65 | |||
| Pākehā women | Māori men | Pacific men | Asian men | Pākehā men | All men | |
| Pākehā women | --- | 106.65% | 115.48% | 99.46% | 84.82% | 89.78% |
| Māori women | 85.69% | 91.31% | 98.95% | 85.22% | 72.68% | 76.93% |
| Pacific women | 80.33% | 85.60% | 92.76% | 80.69% | 68.13% | 72.12% |
| Asian women | 93.84% | 100.00% | 108.36% | 93.33% | 79.59% | 84.25% |
June 2016: Average hourly earnings by gender and ethnicity
The following table shows the detail of average earnings by gender and ethnicity, from Statistics NZ's incomes data, gathered each June by the Household Labour Force Survey.
| All women | All men | Ratio | All Māori | All Pākehā | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $26.05 | $30.15 | 86.4% | $24.26 | $29.45 | 80.5% |
| Women | Men | Average | |||
| Pākehā | $27 | $31.85 | 84.77% | ||
| Māori | $23.25 | $25.24 | 92.12% | ||
| Pacific | $21.58 | $23.89 | 90.33% | ||
| Asian* | $24.21 | $26.73 | 90.57% | ||
NB: This new IS category from 2009 includes origins in the Indian peninsula, South East Asia and East Asia regions, a population now twice as large as the New Zealand Pacific population. Another new category compiles Middle East, South American and African origins (17,000 people in 2010). (Culturally and economically, these categories are confusing, in our view. New immigrant groups may not yet have a normal population profile (ie few children and old people in NZ) which can distort labour market statistics.)
| Pākehā women | Māori men | Pacific men | Asian* men | Pākehā men | All men | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pākehā women | 106.9 % | 113.0 % | 101.0 % | 84.8% | 89.5 % | |
| Māori women | 86.1 % | 91.2 % | 92.1 % | 87.0 % | 73.0% | 77.1 % |
| Pacific women | 79.9 % | 85.5 % | 90.3 % | 80.7 % | 67.8% | 71.6 % |
| Asian* women | 89.7 % | 97.9 % | 101.3 % | 90.6 % | 76.% | 80.3 % |
June 2015: Average hourly earnings by gender and ethnicity
The following table shows the detail of average earnings by gender and ethnicity, from Statistics NZ's Income Survey.
| All women | All men | Ratio | All Māori | All Pākehā | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $25.35 | $29.44 | 86.1% | $23.48 | $28.66 | 81.02% |
| Women | Men | Average | |||
| Pākehā | $26.13 | $31.08 | 84.07% | ||
| Māori | $22.46 | $24.48 | 91.75% | ||
| Pacific | $20.83 | $22.80 | 91.36% | ||
| Asian* | $23.81 | $25.96 | 91.72% | ||
NB: This new IS category from 2009 includes origins in the Indian peninsula, South East Asia and East Asia regions, a population now twice as large as the New Zealand Pacific population. Another new category compiles Middle East, South American and African origins (17,000 people in 2010). (Culturally and economically, these categories are confusing, in our view. New immigrant groups may not yet have a normal population profile (ie few children and old people in NZ) which can distort labour market statistics.)
The next table makes some comparisons between the different gender/ethnicity groups. It compares each of the groups of women in the left hand column with each of the groups across the top line. The lowest paid groups are Māori and Pacific women. The greatest gaps are with Pākehā men, and this comparison is highlighted with bold type.
June 2015: Average hourly earnings comparisons by main ethnic groups
| Pākehā women | Māori men | Pacific men | Asian* men | Pākehā men | All men | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pākehā women | 106.7 % | 114.6 % | 100.7 % | 84.1% | 88.8 % | |
| Māori women | 85.9 % | 91.7 % | 98.5 % | 86.5 % | 72.3% | 76.3 % |
| Pacific women | 79.7 % | 85.1 % | 91.4 % | 80.2 % | 67.0% | 70.7 % |
| Asian* women | 91.1 % | 97.3 % | 104.4 % | 91.7 % | 76.6% | 81.8 % |
June 2014: Average hourly earnings by gender and ethnicity
The following table shows the detail of average earnings by gender and ethnicity, from Statistics NZ's Income Survey.
| All women | All men | Percent | All Māori | All Pākehā | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $24.70 | $28.70 | 86% | $23 | $27.99 | 82.2% |
| Women | Men | Average | |||
| Pākehā | $25.46 | $30.40 | $27.99 | ||
| Māori | $21.81 | $24.08 | $23.00 | ||
| Pacific | $20.07 | $22.85 | $21.60 | ||
| Asian* | $23.48 | $24.10 | $23.82 | ||
NB: This new IS category from 2009 includes origins in the Indian peninsula, South East Asia and East Asia regions, a population now twice as large as the New Zealand Pacific population. Another new category compiles Middle East, South American and African origins (17,000 people in 2010). (Culturally and economically, these categories are confusing, in our view. New immigrant groups may not yet have a normal population profile (ie few children and old people in NZ) which can distort labour market statistics.)
The next table makes some comparisons between the different gender/ethnicity groups. It compares each of the groups of women in the left hand column with each of the groups across the top line. The lowest paid groups are Māori and Pacific women. The greatest gaps are with Pākehā men, and this comparison is highlighted with bold type.
June 2014: Average hourly earnings comparisons by main ethnic groups
| Pākehā women | Māori men | Pacific men | Asian* men | Pākehā men | All men | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pākehā women | 105.7 % | 111.4 % | 105.6 % | 83.7 % | 88.7 % | |
| Māori women | 85.7 % | 90.6 % | 95.4 % | 90.5 % | 69.4 % | 76.0 % |
| Pacific women | 78.8 % | 83.3 % | 87.8 % | 83.3 % | 66.0 % | 69.9 % |
| Asian* women | 92.2 % | 97.5 % | 102.8 % | 97.4 % | 77.2 % | 81.8 % |
June 2013: Average hourly earnings by gender and ethnicity
The following table shows average earnings by gender and ethnicity, from Statistics NZ's Income Survey.
| All women | All men | Percent | All Māori | All Pākehā | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $24.19 | $27.72 | 87.3% | $22 45 | $27.08 | 82.9% |
| Women | Men | Average | |||
| Pākehā | $24.82 | $29.30 | $27.08 | ||
| Māori | $22.05 | $22.83 | $22.45 | ||
| Pacific | $20.11 | $20.98 | $20.59 | ||
| Asian* | $23.06 | $23.86 | $23.49 | ||
NB: This new IS category from 2009 includes origins in the Indian peninsula, South East Asia and East Asia regions, a population now twice as large as the New Zealand Pacific population. Another new category compiles Middle East, South American and African origins (17,000 people in 2010). (Culturally and economically, these categories are confusing, in our view. New immigrant groups may not yet have a normal population profile (ie few children and old people in NZ) which can distort labour market statistics.)
The next table makes some comparisons between the different gender/ethnicity groups. It compares each of the groups of women in the left hand column with each of the groups across the top line. The lowest paid groups are Māori and Pacific women. The greatest gaps are with Pākehā men, and this comparison is highlighted with bold type.
June 2013: Average hourly earnings comparisons by main ethnic groups
| Pākehā women | Māori men | Pacific men | Asian* men | Pākehā men | All men | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pākehā women | 108.7 % | 118.4 % | 104.0 % | 84.7% | 87.3 % | |
| Māori women | 88.8 % | 96.6 % | 105.1 % | 92.4 % | 75.1% | 79.5 % |
| Pacific women | 81 % | 88 % | 95.6 % | 84.3 % | 68.6% | 72.5 % |
| Asian* women | 92.9 % | 103.4 % | 109.9 % | 96.6 % | 78.7% | 84.7 % |
Back to 2015 Gender Ethnicity Pay Gaps page.