Raraunga Ohumahi - Taiutu Workforce data - Remuneration/pay

In late 2022 Government agreed parameters for a public sector pay adjustment (the Pay Adjustment) over two years. This included increases to base pay of $4,000 in year 1, and the higher of $2,000 or 3% in year 2. Year 2 Pay Adjustment increases occurred in the year to June 2024 and were a key driver of pay growth across the Public Service this year. Public servants’ pay increased 4.6% overall in the year to June 2024 (compared with increases of 7.0% in 2023, 3.7% in 2022 and 3.7% in 2021).

In the year to June 2024 the biggest increases in pay were generally for our lowest paid, with Social, Health and Education Workers and Information Professionals having the highest increase in average salaries.  European women, and Māori women and men, had the largest increases in average pay. Consistent with the then Government’s Workforce Policy Statement and the Public Service Commissioner’s 2022 and 2023 pay guidance, our low paid staff were prioritised for pay increases. Proportionally higher increases to lower paid staff were delivered both through the Pay Adjustment, and through other negotiated increases such as for those out of scope of the Pay Adjustment or those which applied prior to the Pay Adjustment being confirmed. The current Government’s workforce Policy Statement was released in August 2024 and can be found here. 

Since the Public Service began taking comprehensive action to close pay pays – the Public Service Gender Pay Gap Action Plan 2018-21 was launched in 2018 and Kia Toipoto: the Public Service Gender, Māori, Pacific and Ethnic Pay Gap Action Plan 2021-24 was launched in 2021 - good progress has also been made in closing gender and Māori pay gaps. The Public Service gender pay gap is lower than it’s ever been, at 6.1%. This represents a decrease of 1.0 percentage point in the last year, and 6.1 percentage points since 2018, when comprehensive action to close pay gaps across the Public Service began. By comparison, the national gender pay gap dropped by just 1.4 percentage points in the same period.  The Māori pay gap fell in 2024, down 0.6 percentage points to 4.8%, the lowest such gap on record. However, the Pacific pay gap increased by 0.6 percentage points to 17.2% from last year’s record low, while the Asian pay gap also increased 0.8 percentage points to 13.8%, which is a record high.  Asian representation in the Public Service has been growing strongly in recent years and this means an increasing number, and proportion, of new recruits are Asian than in the past. This is likely to be counteracting improvements in pay gaps. We also report pay statistics for disabled and rainbow public servants.  Kia Toipoto, the Public Service 3-year Action Plan, sets out the substantial progress expected on all gender and ethnic pay gaps in the Public Service by 2024.