Tiny rise in income means slide of 1.9pc in real terms as recession bites

Income growth stalled in the year to last June as the recession took its toll.

Statistics New Zealand's annual income survey recorded almost no growth in the median income of those 15 or older. The median is the point where half the people receive more and half receive less than the stated amount.

It was $538 a week before tax in June this year compared with $536 a year earlier. That represents a fall of 1.9 per cent in real or inflation-adjusted terms.

Over the three previous years the median income had risen an average 2.5 per cent in real terms.

The number of people receiving transfer payments from the Government increased by 33,700 or 3.2 per cent (to 1,053,000) of whom 13,900 were in the 65 and over age group.

The survey suggests superannuitants were well served by their approach to investment. The average investment income for those 65 and over was flat - $90 a week, as against $91 last year - compared with a drop of more than 25 per cent for those in their late 50s or early 60s.

The number of self-employed dropped 34,100 or 8.9 per cent and their average weekly income fell 4 per cent.

Wages and salaries make up about two-thirds of total income. In the latest year the median income from wages and salaries rose 4.3 per cent to $760 a week - $866 for men, $630 for women. That overstates the gender disparity, however, reflecting the tendency for women to be employed for fewer hours.

At the median, hourly rates for women were 88.7 per cent of those for men, up from 87.2 per cent in June last year.

The data also confirm a premium for academic qualifications. Those with a bachelor's degree or better had incomes 78 per cent higher than the non-graduate population.