The Earnings Gap and Pay Equity: Developments in Five Countries

In this paper, I define the major terms then briefly outline the pay equity initiatives taken in each country. I then discuss the use of lower levels or more rapid rates of decrease of the female male earnings gap as proxies for less gender discrimination in the labour market. The relative importance of pay equity developments, summarised into typologies, as against economic and political climates for success, is then assessed. A final section speculates on the future of the earnings gap and pay equity in New Zealand and suggests where future research is most needed

Participation in Paid and Unpaid Work: Rhetoric, Policy and Realities for Women in the 'Year of the Family'

The rhetoric of the year of the family is celebrative, encouraging, and cognisant of the variety of family forms: 'it is a year for us to celebrate families in New Zealand and it is also a time to focus on ways we can help families to carry out their very important task of raising their children'. It hints at the desirability of equality within the family, and of community/state support, with the comment that one result expected to be achieved is 'Formal recognition by the nation of on-going support for the family as the essential unit in which each member is important and has recognised status'. It even recognises, with the police campaign 'Not Just a Domestic', the problem of domestic violence, although not that it is overwhelmingly male violence

A Living Wage - The Current New Zealand Campaign and the International Background

In a paper to LEW10, I asked why the concept of a living wage, formerly prevalent in New Zealand discourse, was no longer a common slogan – and suggested that it might be politic for it to be revived as a campaigning tool in the context of overseas activity. Exactly ten years later, such a campaign, led by the Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU) and with widespread union and community group support, is well under way, inspired partly by successes overseas. For example, the London Olympics used the living wage principle, while many UK local government authorities including the Greater London Council declare themselves to be living wage employers. Many other countries also have active campaigns and jurisdictions where living wages have been adopted. This paper will first discuss the political, economic, social and industrial relations context and rationales for such a campaign and the progress to date in New Zealand. It will then move on to the definitional, theoretical and practical issues in establishing the quantum of a living wage above the minimum wage, drawing on relevant overseas literature and experience. It will also discuss opposition based on lack of affordability, interference with the market, and employment implications. Basic definitions are variations on the theme that a living wage represents a minimum income required for a ‘decent livelihood’, to include the costs of paid work, particularly child care and transport/other directly attributable costs. The major methods of establishing a living wage are similar to those for establishing a poverty line, but must include the in work costs as well as often being based on a slightly more generous standard to ensure that being in paid work has some material benefit above social security minimum standards, in addition to its intrinsic benefits. There are therefore two common methods for calculating a living wage. The first uses relativities to average or median incomes, commonly 60% of the median (the NZ Poverty Measurement Study used 60% of median, equivalent, disposable, household income). The second approach builds up household budgets using one or ideally both of two approaches - published data from expenditure surveys and focus group discussions. Reconciliation or averaging of the two approaches, which often lead to fairly similar results, is common. This paper will discuss these methods, together with issues related to different household structures and regional differences, which make the living wage conceptually and practically more complex than a minimum wage. Finally, the paper will discuss the relationships, both positive and with some tensions, between the living wage campaign and various other social justice initiatives in the labour market and society generally – to improve paid parental leave, oppose changes to the welfare system, reduce child and general poverty, and reverse the thirty year increase in inequalit

Pay Equity and Equal Employment Opportunity - Developments 2004/2006 and Evaluation

My 2004 LEW paper (Hyman. 2006) argued that given the plethora of studies and reports in this area in New Zealand and overseas, the most urgent priority was practical development and piloting of means of implementation of pay and employment equity. There are positive developments, including the establishment and work of the Pay and Employment Equity Unit in the Department of Labour. However, progress is inevitably slow even in the public sector, and many indicators, such as the low representation of women in areas varying from the modern apprenticeship scheme to Directorships of Stock Exchange listed companies; show how far there is to go. Meanwhile carers and cleaners, where Maori and Pacific women predominate, still fight for a living wage. This paper examines and evaluates developments in the last two years, a period when gender and ethnic mainstreaming holds considerable sway in government. This can lead to a lack of commitment, prioritising, and accountability for results, so such monitoring from outside is essential

Are Widing Labour Market Earnings Differentials Entirely/Partly/Not at all Economically Rational/Justified/Inevitable?

Discussion of changes to income distribution and inequality 1984/1998 has focused more on tax/transfer/ social policies than rewards in the labour market. Yet the tax/transfer system is comparatively minor in effects relative to the wide market income distribution from the labour market and other sources (inherited wealth, dividends, rents etc.). Hence this paper asks whether labour market differentials need to be as wide as they are, why they are widening, and whether the economic justifications are real or resemble an emperor with no clothes. It discusses the standard neoclassical analyses of wage determination and differentials in the labour market and their limitations. Issues include whether marginal productivity theory is simply a circular trick, whether imperfections are inevitable in labour markets, and whether skills/productivity can be objectively measured. Consideration is given to institutional and feminist analyses. The paper concludes that earnings differentials within the standard economy are inequitably wide, counterproductive, and only tenuously related to productivity issues

Pay Equity and Equal Employment Opportunity: Policy, Rhetoric and Reality in the 2004 New Zealand Labour Market

Pay equity (here interpreted as equal pay for work of equal value) has long been official Labour Party policy, although never properly implemented. The recent Taskforce on Pay and Employment Equity in the Public Service, Public Education and Public Health proposes advances in those sectors. At the same time, Part Two of the Employment Relations Law Reform Bill a First Reading Stage would have repealed the only possible, if disputed, legislative underpinning for equal pay for work of equal value in the public and private sectors. After submissions and lobbying, the government sensibly agreed to the Select Committee recommendation to withdraw this from the Bill. The HRC report "Framework for the Future: Equal Employment Opportunities in New Zealand" finds little progress in the employment position of people with disabilities, while the status of Pacific people in the New Zealand labour force is even worse than that of Maori- nor has gender equality yet been achieved. It argues that a lack of equal opportunity creates social tension while New Zealand is being held hack economically through talent being under-utilised. This paper will discuss these reports and developments, government policy and the realities in these areas in 2004 New Zealand

Equal Pay for Women after the Employment Contracts Act: Legislation and Practice - the Emperor with No Clothes?

This paper outlines the changes to the Equal Pay Act 1972 and other relevant legislation made at the time of the passage of the Employment Contracts Act and discusses what meaning and coverage remains. It suggests that the legal uncertainties and accentuation, in the current economic and industrial relations climate, of previous difficulties in using the legislation render it almost useless

Pay Equity and Equal Employment Opportunity in New Zealand - Developments 2008/2010 and Evaluation

This is the fourth in a series of LEW papers updating developments relating to pay equity and EEO and evaluating their impact. As with my previous papers, it focuses primarily on gender, but also discusses the overall situation and touches on issues related to ethnicity, age and disability. In the last two years the election of a National Government has led to an even less interventionist climate, with the abolition of the Pay and Employment Equity Unit in the Department of Labour and the cancellation of associated pay equity investigations. This paper will discuss these moves and what remains of the Unit’s work and other EEO initiatives. It will also examine recent evidence on discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, age, and disability, as well as reports/recommendations/actions for its elimination – including employer/union attempts to improve opportunity for recent migrants and people with disabilities. The situation for older workers will also be examined, with increasing labour force participation at 65+ observed and encouraged, despite considerable discrimination faced by this group. Finally, the paper will discuss the EEO impacts of the 90 day initial period in which the normal dismissal provisions of employment law are waived and other actual and foreshadowed changes to the law potentially reducing labour market protection

Pay Equity and Equal Employment Opportunity in New Zealand: Developments 2006/2008 and Evaluation

This is the third in a series of LEW papers updating developments relating to pay equity and EEO and evaluating their impact. As with my previous papers, it focuses primarily on gender, but also discusses the overall situation and touches on issues related to ethnicity, age and disability. In the last two years the broad public sector, assisted by the Pay and Employment Equity Unit in the Department of Labour, has made significant progress in reporting on gender issues in most departments and in some parts of the public health and education sector. but practical action to reduce remaining gender pay gaps is a slow process. This paper will discuss these public sector processes and also the private sector situation in the context of a period where women have surpassed men in terms of education outcomes - and hence the need for vigilance around women's position in the labour market is increasingly questioned. With respect to ethnicity, despite non-discrimination legislation, there is substantial evidence of problems encountered by many immigrants entering the labour market. The paper will examine recent evidence on discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, age, and disability and reports/recommendations for its elimination

Equal pay for work of equal value - job evaluation issues

Equal pay is again an issue on the political and industrial relations scene, as it has been in each recent decade despite a few quiet years. 'The current campaign is for legislation to amend or replace the 1972 Equal Pay Act to clearly incorporate the principle of equal pay for work of equal value ('comparable worth' or 'pay equity' in North American parlance). While the Act appears to extend well beyond equal pay for identical work to allow comparisons on the basis of skills, effort, responsibility and conditions, there is considerable doubt that it was ever applied in this way, and the Arbitration Court judgement in the 1986 Clerical Workers case (A.C. 24/86 D.I. 176/85) means that for all practical purposes this is now impossible