Cooking the Books podcast: Can rising wages be a bad thing?

Wages have gone up but in real terms people's income has still gone backwards. Photo / Getty

Each week BusinessDesk and the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's why you might not feel richer despite rising wages, and how to change that. Hosted by Frances Cook.

Wages have just gone up by the highest percentage since March 2009.

That's according to the latest figures from Stats NZ, which show that wages went up 3 per cent for the quarter ending March 2022. For the year to March, wages shot up 4.8 per cent.

So far so good right? I like people getting a pay rise, I think we all should. So why aren't I happier?

Well, because in real terms we've all still gone backwards.

Inflation over that year was up 6.9 per cent. Which means that if you're the average person, your pay packet went up 4.8 per cent, but the cost of all of your basic necessities went up 6.9 per cent, so you've got less in your wallet than before.

And if you're one of the unlucky ones who hasn't secured a pay rise yet, well, you're really feeling the pinch.

The problem is that inflation and wages are linked as well. We're already starting to see people popping up to say that if people keep asking for a pay rise, it will push inflation even higher, and we'll all actually end up worse off.

So is that actually true? How do you survive when life is getting more expensive by the minute, and can the little guy ever catch a break?

For the latest podcast I spoke to Shamubeel Eaqub, economist for Sense Partners.

For the interview, listen to the podcast here.

• If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here , Instagram here, and Twitter here

• Listen to the full interview on the Cooking the Books podcast. You can subscribe on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.