Our ethnic pay gaps
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Agency-wide
Figure 2: Agency-wide ethnic pay gaps (EPGs) over time
Our Māori and Pacific pay gaps have been reducing steadily over time while our Asian pay gap has stayed relatively constant.
Across all MSD employees as at 30 June 2021:
- the average Non-Māori salary is 4.5% higher than the average Māori salary
- the average Non-Pacific salary is 12.1% higher than the average Pacific salary
- the average Non-Asian salary is 9.1% higher than the average Asian salary.
These pay gaps indicate that our Māori, Pacific and Asian people continue to be overrepresented in lower paid roles and underrepresented in higher paid roles across MSD[8].
Within same or similar roles
There are few pay bands that have ethnic representation that meets the minimum sample size criteria. However, for those pay bands that do, there is evidence of ethnic pay gaps within one of our core ranges, and three of our manager and senior specialist ranges as follows:
- within pay band B06, there is evidence of an Asian pay gap of 3.5%
- within pay band MSS03 there is evidence of a Pacific pay gap of 3.4%
- within pay band MSS04 there is evidence of a Māori pay gap of 4.2%
- within pay band MSS05 there is evidence of a Māori pay gap of 4.0%.
These pay gaps indicate the Māori, Pacific, and Asian employees that are represented within these pay bands, are clustered at the lower ends of the bands[9].
By level of earning
There are low or no Māori pay gaps within the lower, middle, and higher-earning levels. However, Pacific and Asian employees are experiencing the following pay gaps:
- there is evidence of a pay gap for Pacific people in the middle paying level of 3.4%. Pacific people make up 17.4% of this earning level.
- within the higher paying level, there is evidence of pay gaps for both Pacific and Asian employees of 6.8% and 9.0% respectively. Pacific and Asian employees both experience low representation within this earning level; Pacific People are represented at 6.6%, Asian at 10.3%[10].
By level of seniority
There are low or no Māori pay gaps within the line manager, manager, and senior manager levels. However, our Pacific and Asian employees are experiencing the following pay gaps:
- there is evidence of a pay gap for Pacific employees at line manager level of 4.2%. Pacific people make up 16.7% of this level.
- there is evidence of a pay gap for Asian people at line manager level of 6.0%. Asian people make up 7.2% of this level.
- numbers of Pacific and Asian people at manager and senior manager level did not meet our minimum sample size threshold to analyse pay gaps[11].
By occupation group
Our analysis by occupation group shows some pay gaps of more than +/- 3% for Māori, Pacific and Asian employees.
- The ICT professionals and technicians’ occupation group indicates pay gaps for our Māori employees of 8.2%, and Pacific employees of 17.1%. Employees who identify as Māori represent 11.3% of this occupation group, while employees who identify as Pacific represent 9.1%. There is a low pay gap of 2.0% for Asian employees, who represent 29.8% of the occupation group.
- The Information professionals’ occupation group indicates a pay gap for our Asian employees of 3.9%. Staff who identify as Asian represent 10.3% of this occupation group. There is a low negative pay gap for Māori employees at -1.4% and low pay gap for Pacific employees at 2.1%. Māori employees represent 16.7% and Pacific employees 8.8% of the occupation group.
- The Inspectors and regulatory officers’ occupation group (which includes our fraud, integrity and debt officers) indicates pay gaps for our Pacific employees of 8.6%, Asian employees of 9.3%, and a negative pay gap for Māori employees of -4.6%. A negative pay gap indicates the pay gap is in favour of the ethnic group; so within this occupation group, Māori on average are earning more than non-Māori. Employees who identify as Māori represent 15.2% of this occupation group, Pacific represent 17.6% and Asian 18.4%.
- The Legal, HR and finance professionals’ occupation group indicates pay gaps for our Māori employees of 10.8% and Pacific employees of 10.9%. Employees who identify as Māori represent 22.2% of this occupation group, while employees who identify as Pacific represent 14.0%. There is no pay gap for Asian employees, who represent 13.3% of the occupation group.
- The Managers’ occupation group indicates pay gaps for our Māori employees of 7.9%, Pacific employees of 17.9%, and Asian employees of 16.9%. Employees who identify as Māori represent 24.4% of this occupation group, Pacific represent 11.6%, and Asian 6.7%[12].
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[8] Refer Table 20 within Gender and Ethnic Pay Gap – Data Analysis: 2021-2022
[9] Refer Tables 21-23 within Gender and Ethnic Pay Gap – Data Analysis: 2021-2022
[10] Refer Tables 24-26 within Gender and Ethnic Pay Gap – Data Analysis: 2021-2022
[11] Refer Tables 27-29 within Gender and Ethnic Pay Gap – Data Analysis: 2021-2022
[12] Refer Tables 30-32 within Gender and Ethnic Pay Gap – Data Analysis: 2021-2022
