Median weekly earnings were $1,034.87 in the week ending 23 August, down 0.2 percent from the previous week, a new experimental indicator shows, Stats NZ said today.

"Median weekly earnings are a mid-point, with half of all jobs earning more and half earning less," labour market statistics manager Andrew Neal said.

"We are publishing a new series showing how wages are changing on a weekly basis as an indicator of changes in the labour market."

In the week ending 23 August, the 34-day series, capturing all jobs, shows median weekly earnings were $1,034.87, down from $1,036.5 in the week ending 16 August.

The weekly earnings data compliments the weekly employment indicator series developed to give more timely job figures from tax data, introduced this year at a time of heightened interest in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We added earnings to the employment indicator after customers asked for this extra information," Mr Neal said.

The new earning measures use the payday filing from Inland Revenue.

"A measure based on 34 days after the reference week ends gave enough time to cover all jobs, including those paid weekly, fortnightly, and monthly," Mr Neal said.

"That gives the most complete picture for weekly earnings, though these measures are also available with a lag of six days and 20 days with limitations around which jobs are included."

Stats NZ also provides other income measures. See User guide for Stats NZ’s wage and income measures (PDF, 318KB) for more information.

Changes in the number of paid jobs

"The new weekly earnings data means we have changed our paid job series," Mr Neal said.

"This makes our paid job series comparable and consistent with our earning measures. The aim is to improve the quality of the indicators, without sacrificing timeliness."

In the week ending 23 August, the 34-day series shows there were 2.195 million paid jobs, compared with 2.200 million jobs in the previous week.

Employment indicators: Weekly as at 28 September includes more information, and data from the more timely measures. Stats NZ advise caution in making decisions based on this data.

This data series compliments the monthly employment indicators (MEI). The MEI is released with a monthly frequency around 28 days after end of reference month. It uses more robust statistical processes (for example, estimates for business non-response) so is released with more detailed information across industries and regions. It has a longer back series dating back to April 1999.

Employment indicators: August 2020 is the most recent release of MEI.

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