WELLINGTON, May 9 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand government has made good progress towards eliminating the gender pay gap in starting salaries for the same roles in the public service, part of the government's action plan to fix women's pay across government agencies.
"Currently, two thirds of public service agencies have no, or very small, gender pay gaps in starting salaries, or have concrete plans to ensure that gender isn't a factor when it comes to pay," Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins said on Thursday.
To support the work public service leaders are doing in this space, the State Services Commission has recently released guidelines to agencies, produced by the Gender Pay Gap and Pay Equity Taskforce, in partnership with the Public Service Association, Hipkins said in a statement.
"The coalition government is committed to ensuring that everyone in our public service is paid fairly for the role they do," Hipkins said.
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter said agencies have different workforces and different issues driving their gaps. Some of these issues are more complex than others and may take longer to resolve.
"We're making good progress but it's going to take time," Genter said.
