The average New Zealander’s working week shortened by 12 minutes in 2007 and pay rose by 3.5 percent.

As employers continue struggling to find the right staff to fill vacancies, workers enjoyed a year in which they earned higher pay for working fewer hours.

Workers in the finance and insurance industry enjoyed the largest salary increases, 6.3 percent on average.

For New Zealand as a whole, numbers released today by Statistics NZ show that in the final quarter of 2007 wage levels were as follows:

New Zealand Average Hourly Earnings
(not including overtime)
December 2007

• The average NZ male employee worked 38.3 hours per week with an additional 1.4 hours paid overtime to earn $981 per week.
• The average NZ female employee worked 35.5 hours per week with an additional 0.6 hours paid overtime to earn $779 per week.

In terms of pay rates by sector, the clear winners are the finance / insurance and electricity / gas / water sectors. People working in these industries earn twice as much as people working in the retail and accommodation / cafes / restaurants sectors.

To see how pay rates have increased over the years, pay rates for 2007 are compared with 2002 in the table below. The sectors enjoying the biggest pay increases have been finance / insurance, up 27 percent, and health / community services, up 28 percent.

New Zealand Average Hourly Earnings
(not including overtime)