Times getting tougher for Kiwis
More than a third of New Zealanders say they are feeling the financial pinch more than they were two years ago with less disposable income.
More than a third of New Zealanders say they are feeling the financial pinch more than they were two years ago with less disposable income.
Figures showing the average wage for New Zealand workers is more than $70,000, have been slammed as unrealistic and sending the wrong signal to new immigrants.
Women earn between $8000 and $20,000 less than their male colleagues in some New Zealand industries - despite being more qualified.
Top real estate agents are making up to $1.5 million a year as they cash in on soaring property prices.
Hamilton has become the first city council in New Zealand to approve paying all staff a 'living wage', and Auckland and Wellington are considering following suit, a campaigner says.
Foodstuffs says its supermarkets are still deciding whether to adopt the new youth wage, which came into effect today against the backdrop of union opposition.
Business NZ chief executive Phil O'Reilly has criticised unions for taking industrial action over new youth rates which came into effect today.
Low wages combined with ever increasing demands of the professional era is forcing some players from the sport too early, says NZ netball players' association.
A Henderson tofu maker has become the first Auckland employer to sign up to the living wage campaign, promising to pay its six factory workers at least $18.40 an hour within a year.
Rodney Hide looks at the left's latest cause for businesses to cough up a "living wage".
Forget any notions about rich real estate agents because a survey shows many of them are nearer the breadline than the Bollinger.
During question time Prime Minister John Key was asked about the new minimum wage of $13.75 and calls for a living wage of $18.40 in Parliament today.
The Maori Party is at odds with the Government over the increase in the minimum wage to $13.75, calling it pitiful.
Labour Minister Simon Bridges has announced the minimum wage is to rise by 25 cents to $13.75 from April 1.
A Parliamentary committee has recommended a starting wage for youth be passed into law.
The mortgage belt and taxpayers have been the main winners in a $5.7 billion rise in households' collective income.
Service and Food Workers Union lead organiser Len Richards told a conference launching the living wage at AUT University yesterday that Aucklanders needed $24 an hour to pay higher rents and other costs.
Campaigner Deborah Littman says paying a living wage will require a leap in thinking to accompany an increase in the $13.50 minimum wage to $18.40.
Prices would have to go up by 6 to 8 per cent to pay a "living wage" of $18.40 an hour to workers in the lowest-paid sectors - hospitality and retailing.
Parents of students attending Auckland's Diocesan School for Girls pay roughly one and a half times as much in fees as Ana Malolo takes home for cleaning the school.
Auckland and Wellington councils have agreed to look into adopting the "living wage" of $18.40 an hour proposed by a coalition of union and community groups.
The Government is not buying into the idea of a "living wage" but the new Minister of Labour says the minimum wage will continue to increase.
Mareta Sinoti cleans the offices of politicians from midnight on week nights, is employed to work only 30 hours a week and earns $13.85 an hour.
Quan, a 20-year-old student visa holder from Vietnam, works up to 50 hours a week in a retail shop and gets paid $7 an hour.