For construction workers in Canterbury the average pay rise, compared with a year ago, was 6.9 per cent, on top of a 5.5 per cent rise in the previous year, compared with 3.9 per cent and 3.5 per cent the year before in the rest of the country.
Wage increases in the Canterbury construction industry were to be expected, ASB economist Jane Turner said, but there was little evidence this was spilling over to the construction industry throughout the rest of the country.
"As the recovery gains traction, skill shortages are likely to emerge in a number of areas and drive wage inflation higher over 2013. However, for the time being, the gradual pace of labour market recovery indicates wage inflation pressures will remain subdued over 2012."
Meanwhile the quarterly employment survey, also released yesterday, showed growth in households' collective income from wages and salaries increasing at the fastest pace since the recession.
Total gross weekly earnings at $1.4 billion, or $73 billion annualised, were up 5.2 per cent on a year earlier, the strongest increase since September 2008. It reflects more people employed, working slightly longer hours and at higher rates of pay.
The number of people employed, on a full-time equivalent basis where part-timers are counted as half a full-time worker, rose 2 per cent in the year ended June. That included a 4.7 per cent increase in construction workers to 91,200, back where it was in September 2009.
Average paid hours per week rose 0.3 per cent and average hourly earnings 2.8 per cent
