Labourers
In the Labourers occupation group, men's median hourly earnings are $27.33, and women's median hourly earnings are $25.50. The gender pay gap within this occupational group is 6.7%.
The most popular occupations for women are Professionals, Clerical or Administration Workers, Managers, or Community or Personal Service Workers. Apart from Managers, women make up the majority of these occupations.
Men’s most popular occupations are slightly different: Professionals, Managers, Technicians and Trade Workers, and Labourers.
On average, women earn less than men in every one of these eight occupation groups. This happens whether or not there are more women than men in the occupation.
Some occupations, such as Managers or Professionals, pay women higher average earnings than the average income of all men. However, in these same occupations we also see a large pay gap within the occupation, in favour of men.
The pay gap within occupations is higher than the national gender pay gap (currently 8.2%), in all occupations apart from the comparatively lower-paid occupations of Clerical and Administration Workers, Sales Workers, Community and Personal Service Workers, and Labourers.
The pay gap within occupations doesn’t reflect a difference in skills – New Zealand data has shown that pay gaps emerge quickly between men and women who graduate with the same qualifications (see the “Field of Study” option). It also doesn’t reflect a difference in productivity, as research has shown that women are just as productive as men.
Research has also shown that the more discretion in wage setting, the higher the gender pay gaps. Only 20% of the gender pay gap is explained by factors such as the type of work people do, their family responsibilities, their age, or their education. The other 80% is driven by unexplained factors – including unconscious bias.