Men's KiwiSaver retirement savings 20% higher than women's

Men’s KiwiSaver retirement savings are 20% higher than that of the average woman, according to a new study.

The report, released by the Retirement Commission on Wednesday, looked at data from 2,944,050 KiwiSaver members across age groups and gender with total balances of $85.44 billion as at December 31, 2021.

It showed the average man’s KiwiSaver balance at $32,553, while the average woman’s balance was at $27,061. The gap widens to as much as 32% for women in their 50s.

MindTheGap campaign co-founder Dellwyn Stuart, whose campaign is aimed at closing the pay gap, said the figures reveal a “real need to urgently address the pay gap not just for women’s day-to-day lives but to ensure they have enough to retire”.

The pay gap between men and women has sat at 9-10% for a decade.

Stuart said the figures show that women being paid less than men “does not just impact their daily lives but has very real consequences for their retirement”.

She added while “women’s standard of living will be lower than men’s”, it also means a lower percentage being contributed to their KiwiSaver retirement fund, which “adds up to be tens of thousands of dollars less”.

“The fact that women are statistically likely to live longer than men means this issue is even more dire in terms of the long-term impact on women’s lives.”

She noted that while the commission was unable to break down the KiwiSaver gap by ethnicity, it is “likely to be even greater as the pay gap for ethnic groups is much higher than between men and women”.

Stuart is calling on the Government to introduce “mandatory” pay gap reporting and to work alongside businesses to create “standardised measurement and coverage of all employers”, adding that time is “long overdue to address the pay gap”.

It's also calling for employees to ask their employers about their pay gap, and for businesses to publicly register their pay gap.

“These are very real, tangible actions that we know will make a difference to the pay gap – and therefore people’s lives."

Over 50 businesses have registered on the pay gap registry.