Former Internet Party leader Laila Harre has promised to lift staff wages at her Auckland seafood restaurant to almost $20 an hour - matching the new "living wage" rate unveiled today.
The Living Wage campaign announced at 3.30pm that the living wage will increase on July 1 from $19.25 to $19.80 an hour, just over $3 an hour higher than the median wage of $16.63 in the retail and accommodation sector, which includes restaurants.
The rate is calculated by the Anglican Church's Family Centre research unit in Lower Hutt as the hourly rate required to provide the "basic necessities" for a family of two adults and two children, with one adult working 40 hours and one 20 hours a week.
It was originally calculated as $18.40 an hour in February 2013, and has been raised since then in line with the average wage. The latest increase matches a 2.8 per cent increase in the average hourly ordinary-time wage from $28.23 in June 2014 to $29.01 last June.
The living wage remains about one-third higher than the legal minimum wage, which was raised from $14.25 to $14.75 an hour last April. Cabinet is due to decide today on a further increase, likely to be to $15 or $15.25, from this April.