The gender pay gap was 5.2 percent in the June 2025 quarter, down from 8.2 percent in the June 2024 quarter, according to figures released by Stats NZ today.
“The June 2025 quarter gender pay gap of 5.2 percent is the lowest since the series began in 1998,” labour market spokesperson Abby Johnston said.
It is the lowest ever, and also the largest ever drop.
“Annually, the gender pay gap declined by 3.0 percentage points, the first statistically significant annual decline noted since 2017.”
The pay gap under six years of Ardern and Hipkins declined 1.4% from 9.6% to 8.2%. This decline is twice as large as their entire six years.
No doubt the media will mainly ignore this data. If the gap had grown by 3% it would no doubt lead every news bulletin and be the subject of several weeks of columns.
Incidentally the gender pay gap is an interesting figure, but not that useful. It compares the median hourly earnings for men and women. So $33.76 for women and $35.62 for men which is a gap of 5.2%.
That doesn’t mean there is discrimination. It can reflect different occupational makeups for both gender. It can reflect women tend to have a longer absence from the labour market when children are young. It can reflect cultural differences in how assertive people are with pay negotiations. It may also have a discrimination factor, but you can’t tell from this data.
The more useful data is comparing within an industry, and adjusting for age and experience. For example do female 40 year old lawyers who have 17 years of experience get paid the same or less than male 40 year old lawyers with 17 years of experience. If the answer is yes, then discrimination is a more likely factor.
I suspect the gender pay gap will continue to decline, and may even end up with men on average being paid less than women. This is because so fewer men are going to university.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders
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