Average hourly earnings for employees in New Zealand
By industry, ordinary time plus overtime, 2025 Q4, NZD per hour
| Industry | NZD |
|---|---|
| Forestry and mining | 47.23 |
| Manufacturing | 40.54 |
| Electricity, gas, water and waste services | 53.74 |
| Construction | 41.95 |
| Wholesale trade | 43.74 |
| Retail trade | 33.23 |
| Accommodation and food services | 30.44 |
| Transport, postal and warehousing | 41.65 |
| Information media and telecommunications | 57.58 |
| Financial and insurance services | 63.36 |
| Rental, hiring and real estate services | 41.64 |
| Prof, scientific, technical, admin and support services | 49.75 |
| Public administration and safety | 51.52 |
| Education and training | 45.65 |
| Health care and social assistance | 47.08 |
| Arts, recreation and other services | 38.34 |
Definitions
Average total hourly earnings: Total earnings (ordinary time plus overtime payout) divided by total hours (ordinary time plus overtime hours).
For more information
Limitations of the data
Compositional effects between industries can affect the Quarterly Employment Survey when industries with higher or lower earnings than the average total hourly earnings for all industries change in relative importance (eg make up a bigger share of the total hours).
Compositional changes within industries can affect the Quarterly Employment Survey, as the composition of the paid workforce is reflected (eg the occupations that firms hire).
Inclusions
Because this survey collects data from employers, jobs filled by overseas workers resident in New Zealand for less than 12 months are included. This is different from the Household Labour Force Survey.
Exclusions
The QES does not include data from the agriculture, fisheries, and several smaller industries, or earnings from self-employment.
Changes to data collection/processing
This survey has been redesigned in 2020. Under the new sample design, the level of data collection has changed from business locations (GEOs) to kind-of-activity units (KAUs).
Data provided by
Dataset name
Quarterly Employment Survey: Average Hourly Earnings by Industry (ANZSIC06) and Sex (Quarterly) December 2025
Webpage:
https://infoshare.stats.govt.nz/
How to find the data
At URL provided, select 'Work income and spending > Quarterly Employment Survey (QEM) > Average Hourly Earnings by Industry (ANZSIC06) and Sex (Qrtly-Mar/Jun/Sep/Dec)'. All variables were selected to create this dataset.
Import & extraction details
File as imported: Quarterly Employment Survey: Average Hourly Earnings by Industry (ANZSIC06) and Sex (Quarterly) December 2025
From the dataset Quarterly Employment Survey: Average Hourly Earnings by Industry (ANZSIC06) and Sex (Quarterly) December 2025, this data was extracted:
- Rows: 5-152
- Columns: 2-154
- Provided: 22,644 data points
This data forms the table Employment - Average hourly earnings by industry and sex 1989 Q1–2025 Q4.
Dataset originally released on:
February 04, 2026
About this dataset
The Quarterly Employment Survey data provides information about employment, earnings and hours paid at industry and national levels. Data is obtained from economically significant businesses for the reference period of the pay week ending on, or before the 20th of the middle month of the quarter. Use this dataset when wanting to measure the number of filled jobs from a business’s perspective, or when wanting to measure the number of hours businesses pay for.
Purpose of collection
The purpose of the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) is to provide a short-term indicator of employment and earnings. In addition, the data is used for compiling the business services industry component of the quarterly national accounts (on the production side). Results from the survey provide a valuable guide to the labour market and general economic conditions within New Zealand.
Method of collection/Data provider
The Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) is a sample of approximately 18,000 business locations selected from the population of economically significant enterprises in surveyed industries.