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Pay gaps – an $18 billion a year issue

Author

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  • Dave Maré

    (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research)

Abstract

This note estimates the aggregate size of gender and ethnic pay gaps in New Zealand. The gender pay gap represents $7.6 billion per year, or 5% of wages and salaries. Gender and ethnic pay gaps combined represent $17.6 billion per year, or 11% of wages and salaries. The note also discusses recent research that identifies the contributions of gender and ethnic differences in personal and job characteristics, and points to the important role of within-firm pay gaps.

Suggested Citation

  • Dave Maré, 2022. "Pay gaps – an $18 billion a year issue," Working Papers 22_45, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:mtu:wpaper:22_45
    as

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    File URL: https://motu-www.motu.org.nz/wpapers/22_45.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Forth & Nikolaos Theodoropoulos & Alex Bryson, 2023. "The role of the workplace in ethnic wage differentials," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(2), pages 259-290, June.
    2. Isabelle Sin & Steven Stillman & Richard Fabling, 2022. "What Drives the Gender Wage Gap? Examining the Roles of Sorting, Productivity Differences, Bargaining, and Discrimination," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(4), pages 636-651, October.
    3. Gail Pacheco & Chao Li & Bill Cochrane, 2017. "Empirical evidence of the gender pay gap in NZ," Working Papers 2017-05, Auckland University of Technology, Department of Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender pay gap; Ethnic pay gaps;

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J70 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - General

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