KEY POINTS:
Salary and wage rates, as measured by the Labour Cost Index (LCI), increased 3.2 per cent for the year to the September 2006 quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today.
Earnings growth was also strong in the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES), where average total hourly earnings rose 5.1 per cent (to $22.24) in the September 2006 year.
In the LCI, salary and wage rates (including overtime) for health and community services increased 5.1 per cent for the year to the September 2006 quarter, and 2.5 per cent for the September 2006 quarter.
Those were the largest annual and quarterly increases for that industry group since the series began in the June 2001 quarter, SNZ said.
The main reason for the quarterly increase was collective employment agreements coming into effect for nursing professionals.
Overtime wage rates increased 3.2 per cent for the year to the September 2006 quarter, the largest annual increase since a 3.4 per cent increase in the year to the December 2004 quarter.
For the September 2006 quarter, overtime wage rates increased 1.3 per cent, the largest quarterly increase since the series began in the December 1992 quarter.
QES results for the year to September 2006 show that the rate of employment growth had eased, SNZ said.
Employment, as measured by full-time equivalent employees, increased 2 per cent.
That follow ed increases of 4 per cent and 4.6 per cent for the September 2005 and September 2004 years, respectively.
- NZPA
