Labour Market Reports - Archive
WAGE GROWTH At a Glance
This section contains archived information that has been retained for reference purposes. To view current reports, please go to the Labour Market Information section.
Published: 5 February 2008
Description
This report examines the wage growth measures for the September 2007 quarter from the Labour Cost Index and Quarterly Employment Survey, which were released by Statistics New Zealand on 5 February 2008.
Link to full report
Wage Growth HTML | PDF [82 KB, 9 pages]
Summary
Latest figures show wage growth remained very strong in the December 2007 quarter.
Annual wage growth in the adjusted Labour Cost Index reached a record high of 3.4%.
Wage growth in real terms fell slightly in the December 2007 quarter due to a strong rise in inflation, however remained moderately high at 1.8%.
Key results from the Labour Cost Index and Quarterly Employment Survey are shown in the table below.
| Wage Growth | Last year | Last quarter | This quarter |
|---|---|---|---|
| (annual % change) | December 2006 | September 2007 | December 2007 |
| Adjusted LCI | 3.2 | 3.1 | 3.4 |
| Unadjusted LCI | 4.9 | 4.8 | 5.0 |
| QES | 4.9 | 3.9 | 4.1 |
Looking Forward
Strong wage growth is likely to persist in the year ahead given the sustained low unemployment rate and hiring intentions remaining high. Furthermore, employers are continuing to report significant difficulty finding both skilled and unskilled labour. Annual consumer price inflation rose above 3% in the December 2007 quarter which may also boost wage demands in the future.
Related information
Labour Cost Index data from Statistics New Zealand [external link]
Quarterly Employment Survey data from Statistics New Zealand [external link]
Future updates
This is a regular report – the next update is due in May 2008. Reports from previous periods can be found in archive
Author or contact details
For further information please contact the Labour Market Analysis team