Lowest wage growth in nine years

New Zealand's salary and wage rates grew 1.5 percent in the year to the March 2010 quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today. The latest annual increase shown in the Labour Cost Index (LCI) is the lowest since the year to the September 2000 quarter, when salary and wage rates recorded an identical 1.5 percent gain.

Salary and wage rates, which include overtime, rose for both the public and private sectors during the year to the March 2010 quarter, up 2.3 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

Salary and wage rates, which include overtime, grew 0.3 percent in the March 2010 quarter. Public sector rates rose 0.5 percent and private sector rates rose 0.3 percent.

The LCI tracks nearly 6,000 positions and measures changes in pay rates for a fixed quantity and quality of labour. 

The Quarterly Employment Survey (QES), also released today, showed that the slowdown in annual average earnings growth has continued. Average total hourly earnings increased 2.1 percent for the year to the March 2010 quarter, down from a 3.7 percent increase recorded for the year to the December 2009 quarter. The latest annual increase in average total hourly earnings is the lowest since the year to the December 2004 quarter when 2.1 percent was also recorded.

The QES results also showed that seasonally adjusted gross earnings increased 2.0 percent for the year to the March 2010 quarter, while the seasonally adjusted total paid hours decreased 0.1 percent.

The QES is designed to measure quarterly estimates of change in, and levels of, average hourly and average weekly (pre-tax) earnings, average weekly paid hours, and the number of filled jobs. QES statistics are derived quarterly from approximately 18,000 surveyed business locations in a range of industries and regions throughout New Zealand.

Geoff Bascand 4 May 2010

Government Statistician