Can water cooler talk help fix the gender pay gap? President Barack Obama seems to think so.

Auckland's unemployment rate has dropped to its lowest level in six years. So what's behind the fall and will it continue?

The number of businesses who say it is getting harder to find the skilled workers they need is well above the long-term average, the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research reports.

Two former McDonald's store managers said they helped withhold employees' wages at the restaurant chain after facing pressure to keep labour costs down.

The woman in charge of equal employment opportunities is set to "crack the whip" on government departments for failing to close the gender pay gap.

Migrant workers who were housed in central city offices with no bathroom or kitchen facilities are taking their former employer to court over unpaid wages.

Maori are living longer and their infant mortality rate will soon be the same as Pakeha - but they're still over-represented in poverty statistics.

New Zealand is still wasting its "demographic dividend" of young Maori and Pacific people reaching working age.

The Greens will push for legislation to lock MPs' and ministers' pay rises or even cuts to the same dollar amounts ordinary New Zealanders receive.

What is going on with charter schools? Their justifying principle was fairly simple: they would receive funding for each pupil.

New Zealand will see declining unemployment and a rush for talent in 2014, according to the latest Global Salary Survey.

New Zealand's largest secondary school lost five teachers after a charter school was established nearby which could offer better salaries.

This could be the year you get the pay rise you've been waiting for, writes Bernard Hickey.

The pay packets offered to retail workers jumped almost 10 per cent last year, according to a major jobs website, in another sign of improving fortune for the sector.

The South Island has had bigger median income gains than the North over the past seven years, Census figures show.

New Zealand shows the widest pay discrepancy between men and women across company size and years experience, according to a new survey.

The Remuneration Authority has approved a "restrained" pay rise for MPs, giving each backbencher $3,500 more a year and raising PM John Key's salary by $9500.

BNZ boss Andrew Thorburn has made more than $400,000 from selling shares in the bank's parent company National Australia Bank (NAB).

Mayor Len Brown will propose a "living wage" of $18.40 for all Auckland Council staff at a council meeting today.

The question is whether hard-working parents should be able to earn enough from their wages to give a couple of kids a minimally decent start in life, writes Brian Fallow.

When the dust settles on his sex scandal, Auckland Mayor Len Brown has another delicate task ahead - setting a lower salary for the new boss of the Super City.

I'd like to be able to vote for a political party that would commit to winding back top pay in the public sector to $400,000, writes Tim Hazledine.

KiwiSaver for minimum wage earners, schemes shutting down and KiwiSaver for the self-employed...

Before you decide to support the living wage campaign, consider these three issues.

Higher minimum wages are also sometimes called for here and overseas as a way to introduce a "living wage", writes Kim Campbell.

Finance Minister Bill English has warned hard-won gains that saw the Government's year-end finances come in better than forecast would be wiped out under Labour's "lolly scramble" policies.

Labour MP Andrew Little believes there's widespread support for the living wage campaign, to bump up wages to at least $18.40 an hour.

Wage and salary earners' incomes rose 4.8 per cent at the median over the year ended June, but the increase reflected an ageing of the working population as well as higher rates of pay.