Cost of equal pay estimated

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32639, 22 June 1971, Page 6

Cost of equal pay estimated

(N.Z. Press Association)

WELLINGTON, June 21. The Labour Department recently presented a paper to the commission of inquiry into equal pay which correlated the estimates of the cost of implementing equal pay.

The paper attempted to clarify the differences between the Employers’ Federation estimate of sl66m and the Labour Department’s, estimate of ssom to s62m. A spokesman for the Labour Department said the employers had not tried to identify the relativity between men and women doing jthe same work. This meant the employers’ ratio of female to male earnings was underestimated. The employers had used

the industrial production statistics, 1967-68, a recession year. Ratios had fluctuated within industries which made . the ratio calculated from average gross earnings questionable, the Labour Department said.

The department therefore adhered to its previous estimate of ssom to s62m.

“Is the Commission going to calculate the cost by guess or by God?” a member of the Commission, Mr A. G. Rodda, asked a Treasury witness during a crossexamination.

The assistant Secretary to the Treasury (Mr S. A. . McLeod) said the Treasury was often faced with difficulties in making cost forecasts. "You can’t possibly be sure,” he said.

The aggregate approach used mainly at present did not give the effects of equal pay on individual industries, an investigating officer for the Treasury (Mr R. G. Laking) said.

It was better tb determine what actually would happen within a few sensitive areas, Mr Laking said. An example of a case study was the Labour Department’s appraisal of the’ clothing and related trades. This study revealed that job reclassification after equal pay would reduce the cost considerably.