How do you compare different pay gaps?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-11-03 14:00

New Zealand

PHOTO: Claudio Schwarz/Unsplash

Economists at Motu Research discuss issues when comparing different kinds of pay gaps, for example, directly comparing gender pay gaps with ethnic paygaps. They discuss both the formula used for calculating pay gaps and the choice of pay measure. When examining pay gaps by ethnicity, they say there are several plausible ways of choosing a comparator (pay compared with what?) and a scale (as a proportion of what?).

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Research Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Trust, Web page URL will go live after the embargo ends.

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Organisation/s: Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Trust

Funder: This note was prepared with support from the MBIE Endeavour Fund funded programme WERO (Working to End Racial Oppression) [UOWX2002].

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