# NZ wages not keeping up with costs of living



## Song_Si (Jun 11, 2010)

*Cost of essentials outstrips wages*
SHANE COWLISHAW
Last updated 05:00 03/09/2011

*We are being paid a fifth more than we were five years ago, but the cost of essentials is rising even faster.*

According to Statistics New Zealand, the average weekly wage across all industries rose from $705 in the June 2006 quarter to $855 in June this year, an increase of 21 per cent.

But while a 21.5 per cent increase in the financial and insurance industry netted an extra $225 for staff, retail workers' wages went up only $91, a 21 per cent increase.

Looking at the consumer price index figures for the same five-year period, it can be gauged how wage increases are tracking with the cost of living.

While some items such as rent, home ownership costs and buying a car have increased by less than the average weekly wage, other essentials have shot up.

Food has risen by more than 27 per cent since 2006, and household energy and hospital services are up 31 per cent. Big tax increases on cigarettes and tobacco have sent the price shooting up 42.5 per cent, and education costs are also tracking higher.

Technology is one of the few things we are paying less for than in 2006, with telecommunication equipment 61.9 per cent lower, and audiovisual and computing equipment less than half the price of 2006.

Agape Budgeting co-ordinator Brian McGettigan said people living on benefits were feeling the crunch.

One single mother who was on the benefit was living on "African levels" with only $40 a week for food for herself and her child, he said. Another Upper Hutt woman, also on the benefit, had just received a $600 power bill for July.

He was witnessing marriages breaking up as families struggled under the financial pressure.

*BY THE NUMBERS*

Costs for the June 2011 quarter compared with June 2006 quarter:

Average weekly wage – up 21.2 per cent
Food – up 27.1 per cent
Alcohol – up 17 per cent
Cigarettes and tobacco – up 42.5 per cent
Rent – up 11.1 per cent up
Home ownership – up 18.2 per cent
Household energy – up 31.1 per cent
Outpatient services – up 19.7 per cent
Hospital services – up 31.2 per cent
Vehicle purchase – up 6.5 per cent
Postal services – up 24.9 per cent
Telecommunication and equipment – down 61.9 per cent
Telecommunication services – down 1.7 per cent
Audiovisual and computing equipment – down 50.4 per cent
Early childhood education – down 22.5 per cent
Primary and secondary education – up 28.9 per cent
Tertiary and post-school education – up 24.1 per cent
Source: Statistics New Zealand


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## topcat83 (Apr 16, 2009)

I think this is a worldwide thing - my friends in the UK are complaining about exactly the same thing. Commodities seem to be going through the roof at the moment.

The two important ones are food and energy (can't do without them ). Can't say I'm unhappy about the increases in tobacco


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## Song_Si (Jun 11, 2010)

I was surprised at this:



> Average weekly wage – up 21.2 per cent


I know it says average, but some people must have had huge increases to make that figure an average (the CEOs maybe?) when eg public servants have been limited to around 3% per year as well as facing huge redundancies as govt cuts back since 2008. 
I felt I was losing ground for years with my salary increases versus inflation esp with mortgage interest rates approx 10%, constant rises in food, fuel, insurance and medical costs. Looking at those figures, easy to see how people - esp with families, are worse off now than 5 years ago.


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