Migration dropped to an 18-month low last month as more New Zealanders moved across the ditch.

The Business Herald's executive pay survey shows the number of chief executives being paid more than $1 million jumped from 26 to 32 between 2008 and 2009.

New Zealand retail sales fell in April, led by department stores, where sales fell 3.3 per cent.

Dairy prices have risen by a third in the past quarter, dominating a 10.3pc rise in New Zealand's export prices.

NZ recorded its first annual trade surplus in nearly eight years in the year to April, Statistics NZ says.

The number of young people aged 20 to 24 with no income almost trebled between 1996 and 2006, according to new figures.

The kiwi dollar has surged in value after a stunningly low unemployment stat and a speech by Alan Bollard.

A low divorce rate shows Kiwis avoid marriage unless they're truly committed, a relationship counsellor said.

Salary and wage rates as measured by the labour cost index rose just 1.5 per cent in the year to the March quarter, the slowest rise in more than nine years.

Dairy products helped push the value of exports to more than $4 billion for only the second time on record.

More than one million New Zealand homes used broadband to connect to the internet in 2009.