Wage rates up two per cent

If you haven’t had a pay rise this year, chances are someone close to you has.

Information released today from Statistics New Zealand states that salary and wage rates including overtime, increased 2 per cent in the year to June, 30 2012. This includes a 0.4 per cent rise in the June 2012 quarter.

Tauranga City Council Communications Manager Elizabeth Hughes says although the executive team have yet to confirm the actual pay rises for staff because they are reviewing the summary of outcomes from individual performance plan evaluations, the market data they do have tells them that the average, across all staff, will be 2.25 per cent. 

Labour cost index (LCI) private sector salary and wage rates increased 2.1 per cent in the year to the June 2012 quarter.

Public sector rates increased 1.6 per cent in the same period. The increase in the latest year resulted from a 1.6 per cent increase in central government and a 2.4 per cent increase in local government salary and wage rates.

In the year to the June 2012 quarter, the mean increase for all surveyed salary and ordinary time wage rates that rose was 3.9 per cent. This is the highest increase since a 3.9 per cent mean increase in the year to the March 2010 quarter. Fifty-six per cent of surveyed pay rates showed annual rises in the year to the June 2012 quarter.

After the 2008/09 recession, the proportion of salary and ordinary time wage rates that increased had fallen to a low of 43 per cent, in the year to the March 2010 quarter.

By the year to the June 2011 quarter, 58 per cent of salary and ordinary time wage rates increased.

The Quarterly Employment Survey (QES), also released today, show that average hourly earnings for ordinary time (ie excluding overtime) rose 2.9 per cent for the June 2012 year. This followed a rise of 3.8 per cent for the March 2012 year.

The QES also showed that the number of seasonally adjusted filled jobs and paid hours rose for the June 2012 quarter. Filled jobs rose 0.7 per cent for the June quarter due to a rise in full-time employment (up 1.5 per cent). A 0.5 per cent fall in part-time employment was not enough to offset this. Total paid hours grew 2.1 per cent in the June 2012 quarter, rebounding from a fall of 0.5 per cent in the March 2012 quarter.

The LCI tracks nearly 6000 jobs and reflects changes in the rates that employers pay to have the same job done to the same standard. Rises to match the market, retain staff, or reflect the cost of living are shown in the LCI, while rises reflecting individual performance or years of service are filtered out.

The QES surveys approximately 18,000 business locations and reflects New Zealand employers’ demand for paid labour.