Over twice as many women as men are employed in the public sector (due primarily to education and health), see Figure 1. Conversely, men dominate in the private sector.
However, as of April 2015, hourly pay rates in the private sector were lower than those in the public sector for 90% of staff, see Figure 2. Only in the upper decile do private sector pay rates exceed the public sector.
Together the above two statements imply that, if men and women were equally distributed in seniority (i.e., in pay grade) then women would, on average, be paid more per hour by virtue of dominating in the public sector. That men still command a greater hourly pay rate, when taken across all ages, can only be due to more men than women moving into the upper decile due to working more years and gaining seniority.
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