Source: NZCTU
Minimum wage workers have seen the real value of their pay fall by as much as 6.7 percent under Luxon’s Government, according to a new report from the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi.
The report, Real wages and the cost of living, 2023–26, examines the Government’s record on the cost of living and finds that, depending on the measure used, real wages have either barely grown or fallen over the last three years. Lower-income households have been hit hardest.
“Luxon’s Government was elected on a promise to fix the cost-of-living crisis. Three years on, it has clearly failed,” says Sandra Grey, NZCTU President.
“Prices for essentials like food and power have kept climbing, while real wages have hardly moved for many families and have gone backwards for the lowest paid. Most households won’t feel any better off than they did three years ago, and many are worse off.”
Over the term of Luxon’s Government, the minimum wage has fallen 4.3 percent once adjusted for consumer inflation. Using the more accurate household living-costs price indexes, which include interest costs, the real minimum wage has fallen by between 5.5 and 6.7 percent.
Over the same period, the price of milk has risen 27.9 percent, household energy 29.2 percent, and property rates and related services 28.8 percent.
“The cost-of-living crisis is usually talked about as a problem of rising prices, but it’s just as much a problem of wages not keeping up,” says Grey.
“On top of this, unemployment has risen and the welfare system has been made more punitive, piling even more pressure on whānau who were already struggling.”
NZCTU is calling for a broad-based response, including intervention in monopolistic sectors like energy, supermarkets, and banking, tax reform to redistribute wealth, and a welfare system that ensures a dignified standard of living. Above all, the next Government must reform employment relations settings to deliver stronger wage growth across the economy, including through fair pay agreements, a working pay equity system, and lifting the minimum wage to the Living Wage.
“Working people can’t afford three more years of falling pay packets. Don’t risk 6 years of Luxon,” says Grey.
Note
The report, Real wages and the cost of living, 2023–26, is a complement to the Three Years of Pain report on the state of the labour market, and the What Are We Giving Up? report, which detailed the findings of NZCTU’s survey on the cost of living.
Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/10/27/real-wages-fall-under-luxon-as-lowest-paid-workers-go-backwards-nzctu/