The latest sign of National's failure as a government? The gender pay gap is increasing again:
Men saw a far bigger increase than women, with median hourly earnings for men up $1.06 or 4.6 per cent to $24.07, while median hourly income for women rose up 50 cents an hour or 2.4 per cent to $21.23.
Statistics New Zealand said based on the survey the gender pay gap rose to 11.8 per cent in the year to June 30, compared to 9.9 per cent a year earlier and 11.2 per cent in the 2013 June quarter.
According to Statistics New Zealand the gender pay gap has generally been decreasing since 1998, but had stabilised in the last few years.
"Stabilised" being statistician for "progress has stalled". Though the trend over the last three years seems to be upwards, so we're actually going backwards.
As for what National is going to do about it, the answer is "nothing". Basic equality and the right to be paid the same wage for the same work (let alone equal wages for work of equal value) simply are not priorities for them; they won't even make businesses report on it, let alone require pay transparency or allow labour inspectors to actually investigate complaints. And why would they? They're mostly men after all. And to them, pay differences are the result of "merit" - which just happens to be strongly correlated with having a penis. Its simply a total coincidence, not a proper subject for government policy.
And that mindset is just another reason why we need to de-elect them, and elect a government which will address this issue.
