Men have median hourly earnings of $31.00, and women have median hourly earnings of $27.00. The gender pay gap within this region is 12.9 percent.
Region
Region
| Auckland | Canterbury | Wellington | Waikato | Bay of Plenty | Otago | Manawatū-Whanganui | Gisborne / Hawke's Bay | Nelson / Tasman / Marlborough / West Coast | Northland | Taranaki | Southland | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Women | 29.56 | 27.00 | 30.75 | 28.00 | 28.00 | 27.81 | 27.04 | 26.75 | 25.89 | 27.16 | 27.40 | 25.00 |
| Men | 31.97 | 31.00 | 34.00 | 30.00 | 30.78 | 30.21 | 28.00 | 28.87 | 29.00 | 28.40 | 31.11 | 28.40 |
| Same region GPG | 0.075 | 0.129 | 0.096 | 0.067 | 0.090 | 0.079 | 0.034 | 0.073 | 0.107 | 0.044 | 0.119 | 0.120 |
Gender pay gaps differ by region. This can happen for many reasons.
The dominant industries for a region, and how strongly gender-segregated these industries are, can be reflected in higher gender pay gaps.
Parents’ ability to participate in paid work can be very dependent on the accessibility of childcare, and this is especially relevant in rural areas. If no other childcare options are available, the care of children will generally fall to women, making it difficult for them to participate in the labour market, or work as many hours as they’d like.
When regions have higher average pay, this is generally associated with a higher gender pay gap. This is because at lower income levels the minimum wage equalises workers’ pay, while at higher levels there is higher discretion in price setting.
The exception to this is Wellington, which has higher average pay but also, historically, a relatively small pay gap – this may be a reflection of the public service employing a highly-educated and highly-unionised workforce. More recently, work has been underway to eliminate the gender pay gap in the public service. This has seen a drop in the public service gender pay gap, further reducing Wellington’s pay gap.