REUTERS/David Gray/File PhotoWELLINGTON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - New Zealand's Labour government, trailing in opinion polls ahead of an October election, said on Friday it plans to require large firms to publish gender pay gap data in an effort to get equal pay for the country’s women. With only two months to the Oct. 14 polls the government will need to be re-election or gain bipartisan support after the polls for the gender pay gap policy to be legislated. It said it plans initially to require 900 public sector companies, which employ more than 250 employees each, to report their gender pay gap. “Countries we compare ourselves to including Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom have already successfully introduced gender pay gap reporting. As of June 30, the gender pay gap in the public service was 7.7%, according to data from the Public Service Commission.

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Persons: David Gray, ”, Women Jan Tinetti, Lucy Craymer, Michael Perry Organizations: REUTERS, Zealand's Labour, Women, Public Service Commission, Labour Party, Curia Market Research, National, ACT, Thomson Locations: Wellington, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom