Appendix 1: Additional data of our people

MBIE’s pay gap data analysis has been completed using the following criteria. The data set used was the September 2024 data:

• Gender and ethnic by pay gap (based on average base salaries for permanent and fixed term employees).
• Representation of the workforce and leadership by levels of seniority – employee, people leader and senior leader.  
• Same or similar roles data was reviewed by pay band.  
• Data is presented when there is a minimum of 20 people in a comparison category.
  
  

MBIE Gender Pay Gap Trend September 2023 - September 2024

Over the last 12 months, there has been an increase in the gender pay gap due, in part, to a number of relatively higher paid female employees exiting the organisation due to redundancy or voluntary redundancy in 2024.

MBIE’s overall gender pay gap has reduced by 6.4 per cent, down from 20.2 per cent in 2016 and is overall trending downwards. The current gender pay gap as of 30 September 2024 is 13.8 per cent.

Gender Representation by Seniority

Our workforce comprises 61.2 per cent female, 36.7 per cent male and 2.1 per cent another gender/not disclosed. MBIE has a higher proportion of females. Their representation is reduced as roles get more senior, whilst male representation increases. The table below shows gender representation by seniority.

* Note: This table does not include 'Another Gender/Not disclosed'.  This is due to the small numbers represented at each grouping.

Gender Pay Gap (by Seniority)

When compared to data from September 2023, the gender pay gap for senior leaders has decreased 0.9 per cent (from 10.3 per cent).

There has been a slight increase in the People Leader pay gap by gender (0.4 per cent). There has been a 0.9 per cent increase for individual contributors (up from 11.0 per cent).

To better understand gender, pay gaps for same or similar roles, analysis has been completed to review workforce representation and pay gap by pay band. 

Gender Split by Pay Band 

Gender Pay Gap by Pay Band

The analysis by pay band shows gaps are comparatively low with a variance of less than 2 per cent in most cases. The largest pay gap by pay band is in the 20 and above (20+) group (3.5 per cent). This group contains a wider range of roles in different pay bands, so more variance is to be expected.

Pay increases for employees covered by the Career and Pay Progression (CAPP) framework continue to be managed through an annual step-based progression process. The progression system is based on a pay ladder that is neutral from both a gender and ethnicity perspective.

MBIE also continues to focus on reducing gender and ethnic pay gaps for those in more senior positions. MBIE will complete a remuneration review of 20+ bands post completion of MBIE’s collective bargaining.

MBIE Ethnic Pay Gap Trend 

Ethnic Pay Gap trends have remained fairly stagnant since September 2023. While work may be put in to review this, we are not yet seeing any change in the data.  Ethnic pay gaps are calculated as per guidance by Te Kawa Mataaho (the Public Service Commission), for example comparing average pay of Māori to non-Māori.

Ethnic Representation by Seniority

European employees are progressing to higher leadership positions than our Māori, Pacific, Asian and MELAA communities.

MBIE will continue to focus on removing bias from the employee experience and improving leadership representation.

Specific focus will be on recruiting, building pipelines of diverse talent, and providing equitable career development and progression opportunities.

Ethnic Pay Gap by Seniority

Those who identify as Asian or Pasifika have the largest pay gaps. This is within both people leader and individual contributor levels.

Ethnic Representation (by Pay Band)

When analysing representations of ethnicities across same or similar roles there is an increasing proportion of European in the higher pay bands. Inversely, a higher percentage of Pacific people are in pay band B which is the lowest paid roles.  When reviewing ethnic pay gap for same or similar roles (by pay band) the gaps are comparatively low.  There is a variance of less than 3.0 per cent in most cases.  The greatest gap is in the 20 and above pay bands, which contain a wider range of roles.

The low percentage of gender and ethnic pay gaps in same or similar roles suggest implemented initiatives have achieved the goal of reducing the prevalence of unexplained bias. There needs to be a continued focus to ensure gains continue. The intersection of gender and ethnicity needs focus and attention, actions have been identified to develop and support careers of wāhine Māori, Pacific women, and women from ethnic communities.

Average Salary by Gender and Ethnicity

The graph above displays average (mean) salary. The median salary is displayed in the graph below. The mean (average) of a data set is calculated by adding all numbers in the data set and then dividing by the number of values in the set. The median is the middle value when a data set is ordered from least to greatest.

Comparing this information shows not only the direct comparisons e.g. Pasifika males on average are paid more than Pasifika females, but also shows information about the data set. The Pasifika male data set shows us that the mean is higher than the median, indicating that the data set is top heavy with a few individuals paid much higher than the average. 

Median Salary by Gender and Ethnicity

MBIE ethnic populations compared to New Zealand

The below table compares MBIE ethnic populations with the New Zealand population (2023 census data).

* MBIE people can now record more than one ethnicity and NZ Census statistic includes those that identify with more than one ethnicity so the total can be more than 100%.

Māori are significantly underrepresented at both people leader (7.9 per cent) and individual contributors (8.4 per cent). This is in comparison with the New Zealand population (17.8 per cent).  MBIE has improved representation in senior leadership.

Pacific employee numbers decrease as the seniority of positions increase. Representation is comparative to New Zealand population (8.9 per cent).  People leader 8.7 per cent and individual contributor 9.6 per cent.

Asian numbers decrease as seniority increases. While 25.6 per cent of individual contributors are Asian, this decreases to 13.2 per cent for Asian people leaders.

MELAA make up 3.6 per cent of individual contributors and 2 per cent of people leaders.  This is a slight increase from September 2023. European/Pakeha is the only ethnic group that has a higher percentage of people in people leader positions (58.2 per cent) than individual contributors’ positions (47.2 per cent).

MBIE still has over 5 per cent of people where there is no ethnicity recorded. Analysis shows our employees of longer tenure have a higher rate of no ethnicity being recorded. Those with a tenure of less than two years have a higher rate of ethnicities recorded.  This timing reflects the implementation of the SAP human resources information system and the ability to record more than one ethnicity.  It remains a priority to run a campaign for employees to update their ethnicity and iwi in the human resources information system.

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