Statistics New Zealand report that job numbers in New Zealand rose strongly to 3.1% in the year to June 2016, compared with a 2.2% increase in filled jobs in the year to the March 2016 quarter.
While job numbers have grown, annual wage growth has remained low. Annual wage inflation increased 1.5% in the June 2016 year, in line with levels for the past 3 years, and consistent with low consumer price inflation. As reported in our July update, the consumer price index, which measures the prices of goods and services that households buy, rose 0.4% in the last year to June 2016. The gap between the labour cost index and inflation was 1.1%, which is the smallest gap since the end of 2014.