Minimum wage workers will receive a 2 percent pay rise from 1 April, lifting the adult minimum wage from $23.50 to $23.95 an hour, an increase that remains below current inflation.
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden said the change would benefit about 122,500 workers and was designed to balance cost-of-living pressures with the need to avoid further strain on businesses.
The increase follows advice from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, which said a 2 percent rise would broadly maintain real incomes while minimising job losses, particularly in sectors such as hospitality, retail, tourism, agriculture and cleaning.
MBIE noted the impact would be greatest for young, part-time, female and Māori workers. Starting-out and training wages will also rise to $19.16 an hour, maintaining their 80 percent relativity to the adult rate, with economists suggesting the increase is broadly in line with projected inflation trends.
I’m sure this will go a long way in alleviating the stresses being experienced by small to medium sized businesses across NZ
Is a pay rise better than having no job?
Who were the target of the covid deception and fraud perpetrated on the people of NZ albeit the world under the guise and ruse of a rogue virus that has never been proven to exist but ideology viewed through a dark lens
The backbone of so called democracy
And who never fully recovered
A GDP of 2.6% is being mooted for 2026
If in fact this materializes or is scuttled by unfolding world events outside our control