Average pay packets rose 0.6 per cent in the last quarter, says Statistics NZ. Photo / NZ Herald
New Zealand wage inflation accelerated in the third quarter, though is still soft enough to keep the central bank wary of hiking interest rates with private sector wages climbing at a softer-than-expected pace.
The labour cost index rose 0.6 per cent in the three months ended September 30, in
line with a Reuters survey of economists, as wages and salaries, according to Statistics New Zealand.
Public sector wage costs grew 0.6 per cent in the quarter while private sector labour costs rose 0.5 per cent. Still, labour costs in the private sector have outpaced their public counterparts on an annual basis, up 2 per cent compared to 1.8 per cent.
"The average size of annual increases has remained fairly steady for the past 18 months," Cathryn Ashley-Jones, acting government statistician said in a statement. Since the recession, "the proportion of surveyed pay rates showing annual rises has grown - from 43 per cent in the year to the March 2010 quarter to 56 per cent in the year to the September 2011 quarter."
Total private sector average hourly wages grew 1.2 per cent to $24.58 an hour, short of the 2.1 per cent forecast by Reuters, outpacing the 0.9 per cent average wage growth in the public sector, according to the Quarterly Employment Survey also released today.
