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The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

– Published and distributed with permission of Media-Outreach.com.

MIL OSI

MIL OSI

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

– Published and distributed with permission of Media-Outreach.com.

Source: SAP Concur

August 2026

At the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Convention 2026, SAP Concur launched its latest expansion of AI-powered capabilities across the travel and expense (T&E) ecosystem, designed to help travel managers, finance teams, delegates, and travellers achieve more with less effort. These new capabilities combine intelligent automation, policy-aware decision support, connected workflows, and insights from T&E data. As a result, organisations can reduce manual work, improve visibility, strengthen compliance, and make faster, more informed decisions across every leg of the travel journey.

Expanding AI with data and workflow context across T&E

Managing travel for others often means juggling multiple travellers, competing priorities, and a constant stream of requests, approvals, and expense tasks across multiple systems.

The new AI-assisted delegates dashboard brings approval requests, travel bookings, and expense reports into a single, intelligent workspace. Instead of switching between tools, emails, and profiles, delegates can manage multiple travellers from one place while AI surfaces priorities, recommends next steps, and helps keep workflows moving. The result is less time spent coordinating administrative tasks and more time proactively supporting travellers and executives. Using this dashboard means delegates can expect up to a 25 per cent reduction in hours spent resolving issues. The AI-assisted delegates dashboard is available today for early adopter customers, with general availability planned for Q3 2026.

SAP Concur is also introducing several new AI-powered capabilities that combine intelligent automation and policy-driven controls designed to help approvers, administrators, and finance teams work more efficiently while supporting compliance and focusing on higher-value work.

• AI-assisted approval manager transforms the task of reviewing expense reports by highlighting high-risk submissions with clear AI reasoning and surfacing AI-generated risk insights, spending trends, and approval history all in one place. Approvers can make faster, more informed decisions while improving compliance, reducing manual review time, and strengthening financial oversight. AI-assisted approval manager is available now for early adopter customers, with general availability planned for Q4 2026.
• Enhanced admin control helps travel managers improve compliance with new AI-powered benchmarking and policy configuration capabilities. Administrators can compare program performance against similar organisations, identify improvement opportunities, and receive recommended actions. They can also upload policy documents, and AI will identify gaps between documented policies and system configurations, helping them keep programs optimised and compliant. Enhanced admin control is available now for early adopter customers, with general availability planned for Q1 2027.
• AI-assisted corporate card management simplifies how virtual payment card programs are created and managed. Administrators can generate virtual card programs directly from policy documents, use natural language prompts to create approval rules, and align virtual cards to spending limits and merchant category controls from the start. Employees can request and update virtual cards via text message, improving convenience and helping organisations reduce administrative effort while strengthening spend controls and compliance. AI-assisted corporate card management will soon be available for early adopter customers and is planned to become generally available in Q4 2026 to Concur Expense customers using virtual cards with participating issuers on the Mastercard network.

Together, these innovations reflect the SAP Concur vision for a more intelligent, connected T&E experience that brings planning, spending, approvals, compliance, and traveller support into one unified workflow.

Planning and managing meetings with AI

Planning a corporate meeting has traditionally meant juggling multiple systems and disconnected processes to coordinate attendees, compare destinations, and manage hotel room blocks across separate tools.

The newly enhanced Meeting Planning Agent streamlines that process. Through a simple conversation with SAP’s AI solution Joule, the agent provides recommendations for meetings of any size based on an organisation’s needs. It also helps organisers avoid price spikes and availability issues before they become a problem by flagging major events in the selected location on the selected dates before organisers finalise a destination. Additionally, the agent can now bring Groupize hotel room block proposals directly into SAP Concur solutions, eliminating the need to track group accommodations in a separate system. As a result, organisers can move from idea to execution faster while improving visibility into meeting-related travel spend.

Meeting Planning Agent will be available for early adopter customers in September, with general availability planned for Q4 2026.

New innovations from SAP Concur and Amex GBT strategic alliance

When SAP Concur and American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) announced their strategic alliance in 2025, the vision was to create a more connected travel experience by bringing together travel, expense, servicing, and marketplace capabilities.

At GBTA Convention 2026, the two companies introduced a new set of innovations for Complete by SAP Concur and Amex GBT that builds on that vision, helping travellers navigate disruptions more easily, giving travel managers greater visibility into program performance, and making it easier for organisations to capture more value from their travel investments.

• Leakage reporting gives travel managers a more comprehensive view of bookings and spend by combining data from Concur Travel and Amex GBT, including offline bookings. The solution provides visibility into total travel spend, including bookings made outside the managed travel program, with breakdowns by line of business, travel category, vendor, and traveller. Because off-channel bookings can reduce visibility into traveller safety, compliance, and supplier management, these insights help organisations strengthen duty of care, improve policy compliance and cost control, gain a clearer view of travel volumes to support supplier negotiations, and make more informed decisions about their travel programs.
• Perks, which includes supplier offers and loyalty benefits displayed at point of sale, helps organisations increase the value of their travel programs and the benefits delivered to travellers. Special TMC content, extras, corporate contract benefits, and traveller loyalty status entitlements will be directly visible to travellers in the booking experience, removing manual effort and the burden of comparing sites. These enhancements will improve the traveller experience and provide access to special rewards and amenities while increasing in-channel adoption and reducing out-of-program spend.
• Travel disruption management is brought into a single in-app experience, with notifications, guidance, support, and self-service trip changes accessible in one place. Travellers can quickly understand what’s happening, adjust plans, and access live chat when they need it. By centralising disruption management within Complete, organisations can help travellers stay informed, productive, and focused when plans change.

Leakage reporting on the travel manager homepage and travel disruption management are available now for early adopter customers, with general availability planned by Q1 2027. This month, supplier offers in Perks are generally available, as are benefits in Perks for early adopters. General availability planned for Q4 2026.

Looking ahead

As AI reshapes business travel and expense management, SAP Concur continues to build on three decades of AI innovation, trusted T&E data, an understanding of complex workflow context, and its ecosystem of partners to deliver the next generation of T&E management. SAP ranked #1 for Worldwide Travel and Expense Management Software, with 48.1 per cent market share in 2025.¹

These announcements represent an important milestone in the SAP Concur vision for autonomous, intelligent travel and expense management, where routine work is automated, decisions are supported by data-driven insights, and organisations gain greater visibility and control over every dollar spent and every trip taken.

Explore the latest T&E innovations at concur.com.

¹ IDC, Market Share: Worldwide Travel and Expense Management Software Shares, 2025: Cloud Migration and Policy Automation Reshape T&E Vendor Positioning, doc #US53451526, July 2026.

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Source: Billo

Data from marketing platform Billo dated June to December 2025 shows Meta ad competition rose 40% between August and the November peak. Billo, which connects brands with creators to produce social video ads, says the brands that win Black Friday test their creative already in August

August 19, 2026. New Billo data shows Meta ad competition rising about 40% and the cost to reach 1,000 impressions climbing roughly 18% between August and the November Black Friday peak. Brands that wait until fall to plan their campaigns enter an auction that is already crowded and expensive, with the outcome largely shaped by creative built weeks earlier. Black Friday and Cyber Monday together make up the single largest ecommerce advertising event of the year, and the brands that prepare earliest tend to capture a disproportionate share of that spending.

Billo, which connects brands with creators to produce social video ads for platforms including TikTok, Meta and YouTube, has tracked the same pattern in its own client data. Donatas Smailys, co-founder and CEO of Billo, said brands that enter Black Friday without tested creative end up paying more for weaker results, regardless of how much they spend.

“Everyone treats Black Friday as a fourth-quarter problem, so everyone ends up competing for the same ad space at the same time,” Smailys said. “Brands that create their ads early and test them in August get better results than brands that wait until October or November. By the time November comes, the brands that tested early already know what works, while the brands that waited are launching untested ads during the most expensive weeks of the year.”

Why August Is the Right Time to Start

September and October are when brands learn which ads actually convert, and that testing takes weeks. August gives brands exactly enough time to brief creators, film several options, and get results back before Black Friday begins.

“You don’t need a media budget to find out if an ad works,” Smailys said. “In August, we tell our clients to post a few short variants organically, each with a different hook and a different creator. A small, specific audience responds within days, and that tells you which version actually lands. The trick is picking the right audience for that test: people who already care about the product. Once you know what they respond to, you know exactly what to put the budget behind in November.”

Brands that follow this approach typically produce three to five short variants per product, each testing a different angle: a different opening line, a different creator, or a different pain point. The variants that perform best organically become the ads brands scale with paid budget once Q4 begins.

Methodology

Figures are based on Billo client Meta ad data, tracked monthly from June through December 2025. Comparisons reflect August 2025 against the November 2025 peak, and where noted, December. Cost per 1,000 impressions reached is a derived figure, calculated as total spend divided by total impressions, multiplied by 1,000; it is not a reported column in the underlying data.

About Billo

Billo is the leading UGC marketplace founded in 2019 that connects brands with creators to produce high-performing social video ads. It is based in Lithuania, built for US needs, and led by co-founder and CEO Donatas Smailys. The platform combines the power of UGC content with a streamlined production process, helping brands increase brand awareness, drive traffic, and boost conversions with authentic creator videos on TikTok, Meta, YouTube, and other platforms.

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Source: Greenpeace

Greenpeace says that a retrospective law change, which makes it illegal to sue climate polluters over the damages caused by climate change, is yet more evidence of corporate capture within the Coalition Government.

The Climate Change Response (Tort Liability) Amendment Bill, which passed its third reading in Parliament yesterday, prohibits New Zealanders from suing businesses over the impacts of their climate pollution. The law was primarily designed to prevent the Smith v Fonterra case spearheaded by Māori activist Mike Smith.

Greenpeace Programme Director Niamh O’Flynn says, “The Coalition Government passing this Bill at the bidding of corporations shows the sinister side of the influence of polluters on politics. Instead of standing for the interests of New Zealanders, this Government has stepped in to prevent some of New Zealand’s worst polluters from being held accountable for their climate destruction.”

“This abuse of power – a law change made at the request of Fonterra and Z Energy – is yet more evidence that this Government is little more than a puppet for polluting corporations and industries.

“Big polluters – like Fonterra and the oil and gas industry – are profiting from the climate crisis, but the rest of us are paying the price, from skyrocketing insurance premiums to the enormous cost of rebuilding roads, bridges and other infrastructure after climate disasters.”

In May, it was revealed that secret lobbying by Fonterra and Z Energy – including a briefing sent to the personal email of the Prime Minister’s Chief Policy Advisor – had led to the creation of the Bill. O’Flynn says this is just one example in a broader pattern.

“This Government has allowed corporate polluters to write the policy on everything from fresh water to climate change. Now, they’re attempting to take away our avenues to challenge those polluters. But we will continue to resist.

“In 2013, the National Government passed the Anadarko Amendment at the bidding of international oil giants, to prevent New Zealanders from confronting climate villains. Despite this, our movement (with Mike at the forefront) continued to kick them out one-by-one. Mike’s case may be on ice, but he and the thousands of New Zealanders taking action for climate change will keep fighting this war on nature.

“If this Government thinks that by preventing civil lawsuits against polluters, they’re stopping us from taking action, then they’ve got another thing coming. We will continue to fight for our kids’ and grandkids’ future.”

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Source: Break Free From Plastic

On August 9, 2026, the Chair of the UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution Julio Cordano shared an informal reference document titled “Aid to Negotiations” ahead of the anticipated resumption of negotiations for an international legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution.

This document was a culmination of all the informal talks that happened after electing the Chair in INC 5.3 in Geneva, Switzerland in February 2026. The document is meant to “aid” the discussions in the next informal heads of delegation meeting that is set to take place in Bangkok on September 27-30, 2026.

In his explanatory note, Cordano said that the document was informed by past texts and discussions that happened in previous INCs, but critics are quick to notice that most of the ambitious treaty elements that garnered the support of more than a hundred Member States in past discussions were missing from the recently released document.

The Chair said that he hopes that this document will help to “begin identifying possible bridging approaches and solutions” but many are wary that the current text is bound to bridge the weakest and most watered down measures without articles pertaining to continued plastic production and chemicals in plastics.

Melissa Aguayo, Co-Coordinator for Break Free From Plastic, calls on all Member States to bring back the important provisions, terms, and key measures from previous texts that obligate States to act towards ending plastic pollution. “The text cannot be accepted as is,” said Aguayo. “The process is raising serious concerns about legitimacy and trust. This document emerged from closed-door sessions that once again excluded civil society, while critical issues were kept off the formal agenda, undermining the integrity of the process.”

Break Free From Plastic members respond to the Chair’s Aid to Negotiations:

Eskedar Awgichew Ergete, Executive Director, Eco Justice Ethiopia, said:

“The Chair’s Aid to Negotiations falls short of the justice centered ambition that governments agreed to in UNEA 5/14. A treaty that treats upstream obligations as optional, sidelines independent science, and weakens global decision making cannot end plastic pollution. It only protects the interests of those who profit from it. For African countries and frontline workers who live with the daily realities of waste colonialism, this text is not balanced; it is inequitable. We need a treaty that confronts plastic production, embeds worker centered just transition, and upholds the rights of communities most affected. Anything less is a retreat from the mandate and a failure of global responsibility.”

Nyebon Faustin, Executive Director of Appui aux Initiatives Communautaires pour l’Environnement Durable (AICED), said:

“Plastic pollution is, above all, a matter of human health and survival. Even before contaminating our ecosystems, plastic and the toxic substances associated with it affect our health–including that of unborn children–thereby compromising their development and humanity’s future. The Chair of the INC, has the power to turn the tide by setting the foundations for countries to take action towards an ambitious, legally binding global treaty based on an approach that covers the entire lifecycle of plastic, from production to end-of-life.”

Salisa Traipipitsiriwat, Senior Campaigner and Southeast Asia Plastics Project Manager at Environmental Justice Foundation, said:

“The Chair’s Aid to Negotiations does not reflect the outcome ambitious countries have worked for. Its provisions leave the pace and action against plastic pollution largely where the world already stands today, without the binding commitments that would justify negotiating a legally binding instrument. It is not possible to address plastic pollution while leaving production out of the conversation. Upstream measures to reduce plastic at the production stage must be part of any credible outcome. This is a moment for high-ambition member states to hold firm, make their voices heard, and demand a text that truly matches the urgency of this crisis.”

Muriel Papin, Executive Director, No Plastic in my Sea, said:

“This text, which was intended to facilitate future negotiations, is extremely disappointing and falls short of the ambition set out in the original mandate. It is a war of attrition, which favours the lowest common denominator, and one which the ambitious countries – despite being in the majority – are now facing.”

Fabienne McLellan, Managing Director of OceanCare, said:

“This treaty is meant to end plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. What the Ocean needs most from this treaty-upstream measures to prevent plastic getting into the environment in the first place-is what it is least likely to get. Member States need to stand by their previous positions and refuse to settle for this low-ambition document. They must demand that their ambitious proposals be reintroduced and reflected in the text going forward.” [see interview with The Guardian]

Christina Dixon, Ocean Campaign Lead of Environmental Investigation Agency, said:

“One year after countries rejected a weak outcome in Geneva, they are now being presented with much the same level of ambition, repackaged as progress. Key measures that could tackle the problem at its source remain diluted, deferred or dropped altogether and new proposals remain totally absent. Ultimately, the world needs a treaty that bends the curve on plastic production and pollution, not one that bends to the lowest common denominator.” [see full statement]

David Azoulay, Director of Environmental Health at the Center for International Environmental Law, said:

“The Chair called this draft a ‘no surprises’ document, and on that count, it delivers. The text is the lowest common denominator. And it is indeed no surprise that a text developed behind closed doors, following a meeting where production, chemicals, and decision-making were kept off the formal agenda, and observers were kept out of the room, fails to reflect the science on what it will take to address the plastics crisis…” [see full statement]

About BFFP — #BreakFreeFromPlastic is a global movement envisioning a future free from plastic pollution. Since its launch in 2016, more than 2,700 organizations and 11,000 individual supporters worldwide have joined the movement to demand massive reductions in single-use plastics and push for lasting solutions to the plastic pollution crisis. BFFP member organizations and individuals share the values of environmental protection and social justice and work together through a holistic approach to bring about systemic change. This means tackling plastic pollution across the whole plastics value chain – from extraction to disposal – focusing on prevention rather than cure and providing effective solutions. www.breakfreefromplastic.org.

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Source: Environmental Protection Authority

The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is asking for feedback on a proposed group standard for treated seed.

Broadly, treated seed is seed that has been treated to protect it from disease or pests or to help it grow better.

Group standards set rules for managing hazardous substances that have similar uses or characteristics.

Dr Fernando Torres-Vélez, General Manager, Hazardous Substances and New Organisms, says, “We are proposing a new group standard to ensure that imported and locally manufactured treated seed is regulated consistently. Previously, seed treated overseas before importation was not subject to regulation and the regulation of manufactured seed in New Zealand has not always been applied consistently.

“We want to close that gap and address any potential risks these substances may pose to human health and the environment.”

The proposal sets rules for all treated seed covered by the group standard, along with additional controls for some seeds based on the classifications of the chemicals used to treat them.

These additional rules have been applied to help manage specific risks. The proposal also includes controls on the aerial application of treated seed.

“Our proposal takes a practical approach based on risk. It includes the rules needed to manage risks effectively and in a way that is proportionate.

“It would also streamline the rules for importing, manufacturing, supplying, storing, using, or disposing of treated seed,” says Dr Torres-Vélez.

“We are also requiring importers to annually report on the types and quantities of active ingredients used in seed treatment substances on treated seed being imported into New Zealand,” says Dr Torres-Vélez.

Some treated seed would be excluded from the group standard. This includes seed treated with active ingredients that are not approved for use in New Zealand, have certain high-hazard classifications, or are intended to be used as bait to kill vertebrate pests.

“We want to know whether the proposal is workable. This is our second consultation on this issue. We first consulted on the proposal in July 2024 and have been working on updating our proposals to ensure they work in practice.

“We want feedback from iwi and hapū representatives, importers and manufacturers, the agriculture and horticulture sector, users of treated seed, and anyone else with an interest in treated seed. We’ll use this feedback to help decide what changes should be made,” says Dr Torres-Vélez.

Public consultation opened on 18 August and closes on 29 September 2026.

A webinar will be held on Friday, 21 August 2026. Register here.

Find out more and have your say (https://www.epa.govt.nz/public-consultations/open-consultations/proposed-group-standard-for-treated-seed/)

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Source: Network4

Four of New Zealand’s largest Primary Health Organisations are calling on political parties to back a bipartisan 10-year strategy for primary care, saying that repeated policy changes are making it harder to plan services, invest in innovation and meet growing demand.

The proposal is part of an election manifesto released today by the Network4 (previously known as N4), which represents more than 1.8 million enrolled New Zealanders through Pegasus Health, Pinnacle Group, ProCare and Tū Ora Compass Health.

The group says primary care has become caught in short political cycles despite providing the majority of healthcare New Zealanders receive.

Network4 chair Barry Bragg said New Zealand needed a stable long-term direction for primary care regardless of which parties formed Government.

“General practice is the front door to our health system. It keeps people well, manages long-term conditions and helps keep people out of hospital.

“But long-term investment becomes difficult when priorities continue to change. We believe New Zealand needs a shared commitment to the future of primary care that extends beyond election cycles.”

The manifesto identifies five priorities that the Network4 is asking all political parties to support.

They are: 1. A long-term commitment to primary care, including establishing a bipartisan 10-year strategy for primary care 2. Sustainable funding that reflects the true cost of care 3. Building a strong sustainable primary care workforce 4. Delivering more healthcare closer to home 5. Providing technology in service of people by investing in nationally connected digital health systems that improve care and reduce administrative burden.

Mr Bragg said the proposals were based on the day-to-day experience of organisations supporting general practice across urban, rural, Māori, Pacific and high-needs communities.

“These are practical actions that would strengthen primary care and improve the performance of the wider health system.”

“When primary care is well supported, patients receive care earlier, hospitals face less pressure and communities achieve better health outcomes.”

“Our message is the same to every party contesting the election. Primary care needs a clear long-term direction, sustainable funding and the confidence to invest in the future.”

Mr Bragg said the manifesto was intended to support constructive discussion and support good policy making.

“We are asking every party to consider the same question: what does a sustainable primary care system look like over the next decade, and what commitments are needed to achieve it?”

“The challenges facing primary care are well understood. The opportunity now is to provide certainty for patients, clinicians and communities through stable policy, sustainable investment and a clear long-term direction.”

The manifesto highlights opportunities to improve integration between primary, community and hospital services, strengthen workforce development and make better use of digital technology already developed in New Zealand.

Mr Bragg said the proposed actions would create a more integrated patient centred health system, that ensures people can enrol with general practice, get an appointment when they need it and be able to afford it.

The full manifesto is available at https://www.procare.co.nz/network-4/.

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Source: WEAll Aotearoa New Zealand

New polling has found overwhelming public support (82%) for a law requiring governments to consider the long-term impacts of their decisions on future generations when they develop laws and policies.

There was strong support across the political spectrum, with 90% of Greens, 89% of ACT, and 87% of NZ First voters supporting the idea of politicians being legally required to consider the long-term impacts of their decisions.

The polling, conducted by Talbot Mills, was commissioned by the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Aotearoa (https://www.weall.org.nz) (WEAll Aotearoa) as part of their rangatahi-led, non-partisan campaign Tomorrow Together (https://www.weall.org.nz/tomorrowtogether). The cornerstone of the campaign is a call for a Future Generations Act for Aotearoa, inspired by the successful Welsh model (https://weall.org/resource/wellbeing-of-future-generations-wales-act/).

18-year old Nate Wilbourne, Future Generations Lead at WEAll Aotearoa, says the polling result shows the public wants to see politicians required to consider the impacts of today’s decisions on the generations to come:

“This polling shows that Kiwis from across the political spectrum want our politicians to be required to make wise decisions for the long term. This is tradies, retirees, students and small business owners saying that politicians need to govern for a resilient, prosperous future, not just the next three years.”

“A Future Generations Act is common sense and doable. Wales has had a Future Generations Act since 2015, and Scotland, Australia and Finland are following suit.”

“Every big issue we’re grappling with right now – housing, climate, unemployment, cost of living, infrastructure – all these things are harder because we haven’t had strong enough long-term thinking, or enough willingness to make decisions that will take years to pay off. A Future Generations Act would make intergenerational fairness a legal requirement and in turn, push our leaders to plan for the long-run.”

“We are calling for political parties to work across the house to legislate a Future Generations Act.”

Additional polling from WEAll Aotearoa found 71% of New Zealanders believe that New Zealand’s economy is working “poorly” or “very poorly” for young people.

As Nate says, “This is what happens when we stop thinking about the long-term. This tells us we need to change course and start building an economy that works for people today and generations to come.”

Tom Rutherford said: “As one of Parliament’s youngest MPs, I’m conscious that many of the decisions we make today will shape the New Zealand my generation and future generations inherit. We need to ensure long-term thinking is part of our decision-making, particularly on issues that cannot be solved in a single parliamentary term. I’m looking forward to contributing to a conversation about how we can build a better future for all New Zealanders.”

Arena Williams said: “Labour backs young people and is focused on building an affordable future here in Aotearoa with good jobs, healthcare when and where you need it, and warm homes. We must keep involving young people in politics and ensure their voices are included in the decisions that affect their lives.”

Notes to editor

About Nate Wilbourne: Nate Wilbourne is the Future Generations Lead at WEAll Aotearoa. Co-founder of Gen Z Aotearoa, he is a Forbes 30 under 30 change maker, and a globally renowned advocate for his work with young people, nature, and for future generations.

About the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Aotearoa: WEAll Aotearoa is one of 25 hubs that make up the global Wellbeing Economy Alliance. We are a non-partisan and independent ‘think and do’ tank working to redesign Aotearoa New Zealand’s economy around the wellbeing of our people and te taiao. We use an evidence-informed approach and think upstream to develop practical, long-term solutions for the public good. Through building a new economic system we can address the root causes of major challenges such as poverty, inequality, climate change, and biodiversity loss.

About the campaign: Tomorrow Together is WEAll Aotearoa’s rangatahi-led campaign for a Future Generations Act for Aotearoa New Zealand. It is grounded in the belief that the choices we make today should ensure a thriving future for generations to come. We want to build a governance system that looks beyond short-term political cycles and deeply invests in the future, for the wellbeing of all of us. The campaign has been supported by the youngest MPs from four different parties: Tom Rutherford (National), Arena Williams (Labour), Tamatha Paul (Greens) and Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke (Te Pāti Māori), as well as Sir Geoffrey Palmer (https://www.weall.org.nz/videos/palmer), Christopher Finlayson, (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wellbeing-economy-alliance-aotearoa-nz_hon-chris-finlayson-kc-proposes-four-reforms-activity-7442412804533403652-e2qi/) and the late Jim Bolger (https://www.weall.org.nz/videos/bolger).

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Source: Workers First Union

Retail workers in understaffed stores are more than twice as likely to have experienced a safety incident as those in well-staffed stores, a major new survey of 2,403 retail workers has found.

The survey, released today by Workers First Union and one of the largest of retail workers conducted in Aotearoa, points to a single underlying cause running through nearly every finding: understaffing. Workers in stores that are always understaffed reported a safety incident at more than twice the rate of those in well-staffed stores (70% vs 30%) and were nearly five times less likely to always feel safe at work (11% vs 52%).

Read the full report.

More broadly, 59% of all respondents have experienced customer abuse or harassment in the last two years, and only 21% say they always feel safe at work.

Asked what single measure would most improve their safety, the top answer by far was simply more staff (38%) – ranking well ahead of cameras, guards, or any other specific security measure.

“Understaffing is the common driver of violence and abuse of retail workers, of feeling unsafe in stores, and of workers wanting to quit their retail jobs,” said Rudd Hughes, Workers First Deputy Secretary.

“What this shows is that understaffing is a health and safety issue and not some kind of smart business decision for an employer who’s looking to cut costs.”

“Employers must be held accountable for understaffing their stores and putting workers’ safety at risk to save money.”

Steve Day, a Nelson retail worker, was violently assaulted by a stranger in January 2025 while stocking shelves in a supermarket. His attacker, who the judge later described as committing an act of “persistent violence”, was sentenced to prison, and Mr Day said he still struggles with what happened.

“It was sheer luck for me that our night-fill staff were nearby, including one who happened to be a pub bouncer – he stepped in, or it could have been even worse,” said Mr Day.

“We were regular 111 callers for violent or disorderly customers. With limited Police resources to dispatch, you need good staffing levels to protect retail workers.”

“We don’t even need to intervene – just having more staff present and watching can make it much less likely that people kick off in the store.”

“Colleagues leave their jobs because of understaffing. It makes the job more stressful as well as increasing the amount of conflict and confrontation with customers.”

Workers First Union is calling on retailers to treat safe staffing levels as a health and safety issue, not a discretionary cost. Mr Hughes suggested several solutions to the persistent problem of dangerous staffing levels and abuse and violence against retail workers:

• Increased prosecutions of employers who risk staff safety by perpetually understaffing stores.
• Increased powers for workers to strike on health and safety grounds (described in more detail in Workers First’s ‘Take the Power Back’ paper).
• Increased responsibility and scope for Worksafe to investigate understaffing as a health and safety issue in workplaces.
• Requiring employers to provide additional EAP and medical costs for retail workers who experience assault and abuse in their workplace.

Mr Hughes said a sectoral bargaining mechanism like the Fair Pay Agreement (FPA) framework, was also key to setting minimum expectations and standards across the industry.

“Retail workers are not adequately paid for the risks they have to shoulder in stores,” said Mr Hughes.

“We depend on them as providers of an essential service, but the vast majority do not earn a living wage and are living week-to-week during a cost-of-living crisis. This has to change.”

“Anyone can be caught in the wrong place at the wrong time – but that should never be someone’s workplace.”

The survey also found:

• 43% of workers have been verbally abused or assaulted by a customer in the last two years, and 27% have had to confront a shoplifter.
• Only 57% of workers who experienced a safety incident reported it to their employer, and of those who did, only 49% were satisfied with how it was handled.
• Among workers who experienced a safety-related problem, 61% felt stressed or anxious as a result, and 35% said they dreaded coming to work.
• 61% of respondents said things had gotten worse for retail workers over the last year, and 53% expect things to get worse again over the next year.

The full report, Understaffed and Under Threat: Retail Staff Safety Survey 2026, is available at: https://workersfirst.nz/retail-staffing-2026

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Source: SAFE For Animals

SAFE has launched a major new campaign calling for an end to factory farming in Aotearoa, backed by a public petition and a nationwide advertising campaign exposing the reality of intensive animal farming.

At least 128 million land animals are factory farmed in New Zealand each year, confined in systems that severely restrict movement, limit essential behaviours, and expose animals to injury, disease, chronic stress, and deprivation. Many are selectively bred for rapid growth or high production at the expense of their health, while painful procedures are used to manage the welfare problems that intensive systems create.

SAFE Campaign Manager Emma Brodie says factory farming is a systemic problem that demands a systemic solution.

“Factory farming treats extraordinary levels of suffering as business as usual.”

“In 2026, we should be asking whether cages, crates, and crowded sheds really belong in the future of Aotearoa.”

Verian research commissioned by SAFE in 2025 shows 78% of New Zealanders are concerned about the welfare of animals on New Zealand factory farms, while 72% oppose confining animals in factory farms. 88% believe animals should have the freedom to go outside when they want, and 93% believe codes of welfare should be regularly reviewed and updated to reflect the latest animal welfare science and public concerns.

Brodie says factory farming doesn’t persist because New Zealanders don’t care about animals, it persists because most people don’t see it.

“The scale of factory farming in Aotearoa is enormous, but the full picture is still hidden from public view. That distance makes it easier for factory farming to continue unchallenged.”

“Our campaign is about bringing factory farming into the light, challenging the rules and structures that keep it in place, and turning public concern into meaningful change.”

The campaign calls for an independent review of New Zealand’s animal welfare legislative framework, followed by the reforms needed to end factory farming systems.

More than 25 years after the Animal Welfare Act 1999 was enacted, SAFE says the framework is no longer fit for purpose. The law has not kept pace with what we know about animal welfare or addressed intensive farming systems that cause significant harm.

Recent decisions on the regulation of pig and hen farming have reinforced SAFE’s concerns, with the most intensive forms of confinement remaining permitted.

“We don’t have to accept that this is simply how farming works.

“We can choose differently. And we are asking New Zealanders to join us.”

SAFE is calling on New Zealanders to sign its petition and join the campaign to end factory farming in Aotearoa.

SAFE is Aotearoa’s leading animal rights organisation.

We’re creating a future that ensures the rights of animals are respected. Our core work empowers society to make kinder choices for ourselves, animals and our planet.

Notes to the editors

• SAFE’s petition calls for an independent review of New Zealand’s animal welfare legislative framework, followed by the reforms needed to end factory farming systems.
• In December 2025, Parliament passed changes to the Animal Welfare Act that allow the continued use of farrowing crates and mating stalls for mother pigs, reversing a planned phase-out of these systems. The changes followed a 2020 High Court ruling that found the existing regulatory standards permitting their use were unlawful and invalid. Nearly 90% of submissions on the legislation opposed the changes. SAFE opposed the legislation and continues to call for an end to the intensive confinement of mother pigs.
• The Ministry for Primary Industries recently closed consultation on proposed changes to the code of welfare for layer hens. SAFE has raised concerns that the proposed standards fail to address some of the most intensive practices used in the egg industry, including colony cages. The proposal would also allow higher stocking densities in indoor barns, alongside continued routine practices such as beak trimming and the mass killing of male chicks. SAFE’s submission called for stronger action to end factory farming systems and the practices associated with them.

MIL OSI

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

– Published and distributed with permission of Media-Outreach.com.

Source: New Zealand Nurses Organisation

The $25 million 2026 Winter Plan launched by Health Minister Simeon Brown in March to erase pressure on the health system has been an unmitigated disaster, Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO says.

The Minister’s winter plan promised 378 FTEs, 71 extra winter hospital beds across key hospitals, 567 short stay beds through aged residential care facilities, expanded telehealth services, expansion of urgent and after-hours care clinic hours, and working with pharmacies to treat more minor conditions.

NZNO delegate and Waikato Hospital emergency nurse Tracy Chisholm says members are asking: “Where was the plan?” as there was very little sign of it this winter.

“In the Waikato Hospital Emergency Department (ED) the situation is worse than ever, even culminating in the tragic death of a patient in the waiting room toilet. Across the country it is no different. Look at hospitals in North Shore, Auckland, Gisborne, Christchurch, Whakatane and Wellington. The list goes on. Virtually every ED is working over capacity this winter with waiting times consistently running into double-digit hours.

“The promised rapid ward still hasn’t eventuated. There is no sign of the extra beds. We still have bed block and non-urgent patients taking up space in ED.

“We are going to lose ED staff because they can’t go on with this amount of pressure. Christchurch ED nurse Keziah Jones who has been in the news recently is not an isolated case.”

So, what do nurses suggest as a solution to this crisis?

Tracy Chisholm says the plan failed to address the fundamental issues impacting delivery of care – infrastructure and staffing.

“The greatest problem we have right now is chronic understaffing. Plans like the Minister’s failed one for the winter only intensifies the problem.

“There was no proper consultation with frontline health care workers before the plan was implemented. Instead of hiring workers who can actually assist patients waiting for hours they have hired managers in new roles who are clock chasing just to meet targets.

“The plan did not strike at the root cause of the problem. It fails to address existing staffing issues that are seriously undermining the standard of care in our hospitals.”

MIL OSI

MIL OSI

Source: Exercise New Zealand

(A World First)

“If we want more New Zealanders exercising, we need more good people out there pushing that message.”

“We spend a lot of time talking about getting New Zealand moving, but exercise professionals are the people who actually turn that ambition into action.”

“While much of the conversation about AI focuses on what it might look like to
replace, we’re using it to support work that needs to remain deeply human.”

In a world first, around 2,000 New Zealand personal trainers are being given professional websites and business tools in a nationwide initiative using AI to strengthen the workforce behind the country’s fight against physical inactivity.

New Zealand Has An Inactivity Problem

More than half of New Zealand adults are not getting enough physical activity to meet recommended health guidelines. The latest New Zealand Health Survey found just 46.2% met the guidelines in 2024/25, while one in eight adults did less than 30 minutes of physical activity across an entire week.

But behind those numbers is another part of the equation: the people whose job it is to get New Zealanders moving.

From the 19th of August, around 2,000 personal trainers registered with the New Zealand Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs) will receive a professional website and digital business tools as part of their registration.

The nationwide initiative is a partnership between Exercise New Zealand, REPs and New Zealand-built technology platform fitweb. The rollout represents a $2 million investment in New Zealand’s exercise workforce, based on the standard retail value of the websites and business tools being provided to around 2,000 exercise professionals.

The aim is not simply to put more websites online. It is to help more exercise professionals become visible, find clients, build sustainable careers and continue doing the work New Zealand increasingly needs them to do.

Backing the People

fitweb founder Ben Mann has spent close to 15 years working across the exercise industry in New Zealand and internationally, from personal training through to senior industry leadership. He says that experience has shaped his view that exercise professionals have a much bigger role in public health than simply delivering a workout to someone who has already decided to exercise.

“For nearly 15 years, I’ve watched this industry change people’s lives, but I’ve also seen great exercise professionals leave because being good at helping people wasn’t enough to build a sustainable career.”

“Exercise professionals do more than support people who already exercise. They make movement feel possible for those who haven’t been active in years, helping them see there is a way to start that works for them. Sometimes, the right professional at the right moment is all someone needs to take that first step.”

For Mann, every exercise professional who builds a lasting career has an impact that extends well beyond their own client list.

“One trainer might work directly with 30 or 40 people, but their influence reaches much further than that. They talk about exercise every day. Their clients talk to their families. They share successes. They make movement visible in their communities. They normalise it.”

“If we want more New Zealanders exercising, we need more good people out there pushing that message, and we need them still standing when somebody is finally ready to listen.”

Front Line of Prevention

That workforce is particularly important as New Zealand looks for ways to prevent poor health before it requires treatment.

ExerciseNZ has this month released New Zealand’s first comprehensive White Paper focused on physical activity and prevention, highlighting that the country’s existing exercise industry remains overlooked and under-utilised as part of the health solution.

ExerciseNZ Chief Executive Richard Beddie says supporting the people delivering exercise in communities is a practical part of changing that.

“We spend a lot of time talking about the need to get New Zealand moving, but exercise professionals are some of the people who actually turn that ambition into action.”

“If we genuinely want physical activity to play a greater role in prevention, then we need a strong, visible and sustainable exercise workforce in communities throughout New Zealand.”

The Business Challenge Behind the Profession

The challenge is that many of those professionals are also small business owners. Alongside coaching clients, they need to market themselves, establish credibility, be found online, manage enquiries and generate enough business to make their career viable.

That is the problem we’re trying to address.

Each eligible REPs-registered personal trainer receives an editable, AI-assisted professional website, with search engine foundations, a lead inbox and mini-CRM, business income and expense tools, and other digital infrastructure intended to help them get found and turn enquiries into clients.

Using AI to Support Human Connection

Creating that infrastructure individually for around 2,000 small businesses would ordinarily be impractical. However, AI changes the economics of doing it at scale. For Mann, that is also why this is an AI story with a difference.

“While much of the conversation about AI focuses on what it might replace, we’re using it to support work that needs to remain deeply human. AI makes it possible to give thousands of exercise professionals access to business infrastructure that would otherwise be out of reach, but it can’t build trust, understand someone’s barriers, celebrate their progress or motivate them to keep going. That human connection is what we’re investing in.”

Mann says the project is personal because he has seen both sides of the industry’s opportunity: the extraordinary impact good exercise professionals can have, and how difficult it can be for those same people to establish themselves commercially.

“We already have exercise professionals across New Zealand who chose this career because they want to help people become healthier, and they have the skills and knowledge to genuinely change lives. It’s a missed opportunity if we lose those professionals because they can’t build a sustainable client base, while people in their communities are ready to become active but haven’t found the right support. The stronger our exercise workforce is, the more New Zealanders it can reach and help
become active.”

Turning Technology Into Community Impact

The initiative builds on ExerciseNZ’s wider work to increase the role physical activity plays in prevention and improve recognition of the exercise workforce.

Beddie says technology can help remove barriers, but the ultimate measure of success is what happens in communities.

“A website is simply a tool. What matters is helping more New Zealanders connect with qualified exercise professionals, supporting those professionals to build viable careers, and using technology to make those human connections happen more often.”

Invitations will begin rolling out to eligible REPs-registered personal trainer contractors from the 19th of August.

MIL OSI

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

– Published and distributed with permission of Media-Outreach.com.

Source: UNSW Sydney

Financial literacy is less about expertise than knowing how to spend, save and borrow, says a UNSW economist. Here’s what you need to know.

8.5 million Australian adults lack basic financial literacy, representing about 45% of the adult population. While Australia ranks among the top 10 countries globally for financial literacy, many people still struggle to confidently make informed decisions about saving, borrowing and managing financial risk.

Professor Isabella Dobrescu, Head of the School of Economics at UNSW Business School, says that a lack of financial literacy can leave people more vulnerable to debt, financial stress and financial abuse, and less prepared for how changes in economic conditions can affect living costs or their personal circumstances.

“Millions of people do not have the basic knowledge needed to confidently decide how much to save, how much to borrow or how to manage financial risk. Financial literacy is not just an individual problem; it is a societal problem, and we need to start building the national capability on this,” she says.

Being financially literate does not mean becoming a money expert. It starts with understanding how everyday financial decisions affect your present and future circumstances, and understanding the economics of your life.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE FINANCIALLY LITERATE?

The term financial literacy can be intimidating, with people often assuming it means having deep knowledge of investing and the stock market. But Prof. Dobrescu says it is much broader and begins with everyday decisions about money.

The estimate that 45% of Australian adults lack basic financial literacy comes from an analysis of the 2016 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. In the analysis, respondents were considered financially literate if they correctly answered all three questions about interest, inflation and investment diversification.

“It is about understanding how to budget, how to save, how much to borrow and how to manage risk. It is about how you make decisions with your money, and so much broader than the stock market,” she says.

Financial literacy helps people manage their own money, but these decisions do not happen in isolation. They are shaped by broader economic conditions, including changes in interest rates, inflation and the cost of living. Prof. Dobrescu says economic literacy helps people understand this wider context, as well as the incentives and trade-offs involved in their choices.

“We live in a world of constraints. We have limited money, limited time, limited information and limited attention,” she says. “Being economically literate helps you make the best in this constrained world, which is the real world.”

On The Business Of Financial Literacy podcast, Prof. Dobrescu says even highly educated people can make costly financial decisions if they do not pause to understand the trade-offs involved. She gives the example of a person who had significant savings in a bank account earning about 4% interest while carrying credit card debt, attracting roughly 20% interest.

“By using those savings to pay off the credit card debt, they could have avoided paying the higher interest rate,” she says. “It shows why it is important to understand the opportunity cost of the choices you make.”

IS DIGITAL SPENDING CONTRIBUTING TO FINANCIAL ILLITERACY?

The way people interact with money has changed. Tap-and-go payments, digital wallets and online subscriptions have made transactions faster and more convenient, and they can also make people less aware of their spending.

“The biggest behavioural change has been removing the pain of paying,” Prof. Dobrescu says. “When we used cash, we saw the coins and notes leaving our wallets. Now we tap with a card, tap with a phone or click on a subscribe button.”

While digital payments do not necessarily make people financially illiterate, Prof. Dobrescu says the lack of friction can make it harder to recognise how much money is leaving an account, particularly when small payments and recurring subscriptions accumulate over time.

“Transactions happen so quickly that we do not always stop and think about the money leaving our account. When spending becomes less visible, it becomes harder to understand where our money is going and make informed decisions about how much to spend and save,” she says.

To make spending more visible, Prof. Dobrescu recommends setting aside time each month to review expenses and identify recurring payments that are no longer needed.

“Take an hour, look at your expenses and understand where your money is going,” she says. “It is about bringing some of that friction back and becoming more aware of the decisions you are making. It’s a time cost, but it will pay off in the medium to long-term.”

WHEN DID YOU LAST GIVE YOUR FINANCES A HEALTH CHECK?

Financial literacy requires ongoing attention as people’s circumstances and priorities change.

“Financial literacy is not a destination. You have to keep checking the information available and learning because your circumstances change, the financial products available to you change, and the economy changes,” Prof. Dobrescu says.

She says a financial health check should begin with some basic questions: Do you know where your money is going? Do you have an emergency buffer? Are you carrying high-interest debt? And do you understand your superannuation?

“Superannuation is a black box for many people. They know money is going into it, but they may not know how much they have, where it is invested, what insurance is included or whether it will be enough for retirement,” she says.

“The questions people should ask also depend on their stage of life”, Prof. Dobrescu says.

“In your 30s, you should be building the foundations. That means managing debt, establishing an emergency buffer and starting to take your superannuation seriously,” she says.

“Your 40s are a balancing act. You may have a mortgage, children or other caring responsibilities, while also needing to start thinking more seriously about retirement.”

By their 50s, Prof. Dobrescu says people should have a clearer understanding of whether their retirement savings will be sufficient and how future healthcare or aged care costs may affect them.

“The foundations you put in place earlier in life matter, but it is never too late to become more engaged with your finances,” she says.

EDUCATION PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE

Prof. Dobrescu says education has an important role in closing Australia’s financial literacy gap. She is involved in STEP UP, UNSW’s economic and financial literacy outreach program for high school students, which uses the Playconomics video game to teach economic and financial concepts through live experiences.

“Students can experiment with different choices, see their consequences and then go back and try again,” she says. “They can see in real time how changing one decision can affect a whole range of outcomes.”

Through the simulated economy, students make decisions about budgeting and spending, how much to save and how much debt to take on, how to deal with taxes, whether to invest in private or public goods and how to respond to market cycles. Prof. Dobrescu says the experience also helps them understand their appetite for risk and willingness to delay spending for a future benefit.

“It is like living your life on fast forward, but without the real-world consequences,” she says. “You can make mistakes, try again and learn how your decisions affect your financial position.”

MIL OSI

Source: deVere Group

August 17 2026

China’s new wave of AI hardware exports offers investors a hedge against Wall Street’s “dangerously circular” artificial intelligence trade, affirms the CEO of one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory and asset management organisations.

Nigel Green of deVere Group [1] comments as fresh analysis maps out a new generation of Chinese exporters carrying a combined addressable market of $12 billion to $212 billion by 2030, a shift that gives investors a genuine alternative to the self-financing loops he has been warning about for weeks.

“For weeks I’ve been flagging that too much of the AI trade in the US is financing itself, with the same capital moving between a tight circle of suppliers, lenders and customers and getting booked as growth every time it changes hands.

“A supplier invests in a customer, that customer spends the investment buying the supplier’s own hardware, and the identical dollars get counted as fresh revenue at every stop along the loop,” he says.

“China’s export wave looks nothing like that. It is hardware shipped to real ports and installed on real factory floors overseas, demand that shows up in customs data rather than in vendor-financing footnotes.”

He describes China as entering “a third global export era”, moving on from the solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles that defined the last decade toward AI-enabled industrial hardware, data-centre equipment and automated production systems.

With US trade restrictions still unresolved, Chinese manufacturers across these sectors are routing growth through Europe and Southeast Asia instead.

Industrial automation and robotics stand out as sectors where corporate execution, not macro tailwinds, decides the winners.

Two listed Chinese automation specialists illustrate the range on offer.
One Shenzhen-listed group carries a buy rating and a price target implying upside above 50%, with its addressable market outside China projected to more than triple from $163 billion as Europe becomes its central overseas battleground.

A Hong Kong-listed robotics manufacturer, rated neutral, is expected to triple its Southeast Asian market share to around 10% by 2030 against a regional opportunity worth $20 billion.

“Those two firms sit at very different stages of the same trade,” explains the deVere CEO. “The Southeast Asian push still needs deeper service coverage on the ground, while the European operation already has real scale behind it. Execution speed is what separates them, not a weaker currency.”

The scale of China’s hardware momentum is visible beyond the balance sheets. One Chinese humanoid robot maker shipped more than 5,500 units last year, compared with roughly 150 units each from its leading American rivals.

Beijing hosts the World Robot Conference from August 19 to 23, with exhibitor numbers up 36% year on year to more than 300 and over 150 products launching on-site.

“Volumes like that are the proof.

“An entire supply chain is moving up the value curve at a pace Western competitors are still underestimating, and this week in Beijing will show it in real time.”

Nigel Green argues the diversification case is now urgent for portfolios overweight the most circularly financed pockets of the American AI trade.

“Investors who have been sitting entirely inside the US AI complex are exposed to financing structures I have already flagged as fragile,” he says.

“Adding exposure tied to genuine overseas order books, across robotics, automation and industrial hardware, gives a portfolio real distance from that circularity. Every AI-heavy portfolio needs that distance before the next repricing arrives.”

He concludes that the coming week’s robotics showcase in Beijing will offer the clearest signal yet of which Chinese exporters are converting momentum into contracted, overseas revenue.

“Watch the order books coming out of Beijing this week closely.

“They’ll tell investors more about where real AI demand sits than another earnings call stuffed with financing arrangements ever could.”

deVere Group is one of the world’s largest independent advisors of specialist global financial solutions to international, local mass affluent, and high-net-worth clients. It has a network of offices around the world, more than 80,000 clients, and $14bn under advisement.

MIL OSI

Source: KOF Swiss Economic Institute

Zurich, 08/17/2026, 9 AM

In July, private-sector firms in Switzerland anticipated that nominal
wages would rise by an average of 1.2 per cent over the next year.
Although wage expectations are slightly lower than they were a year ago
in almost all sectors, if the inflation forecast by the KOF Institute
materialises, this wage increase should still be sufficient to deliver
solid real wage growth by historical standards.

The KOF Institute surveyed around 8,000 private-sector firms on their
wage forecasts in July as part of its quarterly economic surveys.
Roughly 3,500 businesses responded to the relevant question. According
to the survey, companies expect to see an average wage increase of 1.2
per cent in a year’s time. This is 1.3 per cent lower year on year. The
outlook for nominal wage growth is thus continuing the downward trend
observed since the survey began in 2022. Forecasts are now centred
around 1 per cent, with half of firms anticipating wage growth of
between 0.6 per cent and 1.4 per cent. Far fewer companies than a year
ago are planning wage rises of 2 per cent or more, whilst the median
remains unchanged at 1 per cent.

The decline in wage expectations is likely to reflect two main
developments. On the one hand, the situation on the Swiss labour market
has been steadily deteriorating since 2023: seasonally adjusted
unemployment rose slightly, and the shortage of skilled workers has
eased further. In 2025, employment grew only marginally. On the other
hand, consumer price inflation fell again last year and was at times
close to zero. Although inflation has since risen slightly again due to
the war in Iran, there is nevertheless less need this year to adjust
wages in line with past inflation.

Real wage growth could be above average in 2027

Real wage growth – that is, wage growth after adjusting for inflation –
is crucial for the purchasing power of wage earners. The firms surveyed
also indicated what level of inflation they are anticipating over the
next twelve months. As in previous surveys, they expect inflation to be
higher than that forecast by the economic research institutes: whilst
the KOF Institute, for example, forecasts inflation of 0.5 per cent for
the next twelve months, businesses are anticipating 1.1 per cent. They
reckon that wage increases are therefore likely to be just enough to
offset price rises, so real wages would essentially stagnate. If, on the
other hand, the KOF Institute’s latest forecast proves accurate, the
expected nominal wage growth of 1.2 per cent would result in a real
increase of around 0.7 per cent. This would be a respectable figure by
historical standards: real wages according to the Swiss Wage Index rose
by an average of 0.2 per cent per year between 2014 and 2023.

Construction sector expecting the highest wage growth

There are significant variations between sectors. Firms in the retail
trade (0.8 per cent), wholesale trade (0.9 per cent) and in the
manufacturing and financial sectors (1.0 per cent each) are forecasting
comparatively low nominal wage growth. The sharpest year-on-year
declines in forecasts within the financial sector were seen in banking
(from 1.4 per cent to 0.8 per cent) and in the chemical and
pharmaceutical industries (both from 1.5 per cent to 1.0 per cent) – a
trend that is likely to reflect the particular challenges facing these
sectors. The pharmaceutical industry is under pressure from the US
government to lower its prices; the chemical industry is feeling the
impact of US trade tariffs and the rise in energy prices resulting from
the war in Iran; and, in the banking sector, the ongoing integration of
Credit Suisse into UBS could dampen wage growth.

The construction sector constitutes a clear outlier here as it is the
only sector in which companies are forecasting higher wage growth – both
in nominal and real terms – than they did a year ago, now anticipating a
nominal increase of 2.0 per cent (last year: 1.6 per cent). 90 per cent
of construction firms expect to see wage growth of at least 1 per cent,
whilst in all other sectors at least one in ten businesses reckons that
wages will not rise at all. One reason for this optimism could be the
ongoing shortage of skilled workers coupled with strong order books in
the construction sector. The nominal wage growth of 1.4 per cent
expected in the hospitality sector is above average. Compared with
previous surveys, however, forecasts have fallen significantly here as
well. Hospitality was still leading all sectors in mid-2024 with
projected wage growth of 2.6 per cent.

The KOF Institute’s wage surveys

The KOF Institute has been collecting data on wage forecasts of
private-sector firms in Switzerland every quarter since 2022. These
surveys are conducted as part of the quarterly Business Tendency
Surveys, in which the KOF Institute polls around 8,000 Swiss firms. The
surveys include a quantitative question on how respondents’ expect gross
wages in their businesses to evolve over the next twelve months.
Analysis of these responses is particularly interesting in July, as this
month’s question gauges firms’ expectations regarding the forthcoming
round of wage negotiations. Individual companies’ responses are
aggregated using employment weights. The survey also asks businesses
about their forecasts for consumer price inflation over the next twelve
months. By combining these wage and price responses, it is therefore
possible to draw conclusions about the real wage growth that companies
are anticipating. Given the large sample size, the data also enables
reliable conclusions to be drawn about the sectors in which firms expect
to see higher wage growth.

MIL OSI