WELLINGTON: Average pay packages have gone up by almost $100 a month during the past year but not everyone has been lucky enough to get a rise, says an industry expert.
Data by seek.co.nz showed average annual pay packages for jobs listed on the site had increased 2.3 per cent, or $94 a month after tax, in the year to June. The national average advertised salary now sits at $74,965.
Director of Horizon Recruitment Toni Henderson said that while average pay packages had risen, only certain industries had been affected.
“Wages have gone up in certain areas but that is certainly not the case across the country. When you are talking about averages, however, how well that actually applies across the board is [uncertain],” Henderson said.
“It really depends on the industries that you are looking at, it depends on the roles you are looking at and it depends geographically where in the country you are looking at. Some areas remain stagnant and some roar ahead.”
According to seek.co.nz, the biggest pay packages were offered for jobs in Wellington – almost $6000 above the national average. The average annual pay package in the Wellington region was $80,934 – an increase of 2 per cent on June last year.
Auckland offered the second-highest pay packages at $76,338, followed by Canterbury at $72,512, Taranaki at $72,376 and the Waikato at $69,168.
The Bay of Plenty experienced the biggest increase in annual advertised salary, jumping almost 7 per cent in June this year over last year, taking the average annual salary to $68,625.
The data showed the highest-paid industry was consulting and strategy with an average annual advertised salary of $99,046. Seek.co.nz general manager Janet Faulding said the increase in salary for consulting and strategy roles had been propelled by growth in the environmental and sustainability sector.
“This increase was driven by significant growth in pay packets for environmental and sustainability consulting roles, which grew by an impressive 11 per cent,” Faulding said. “Managing and change consulting roles and corporate development consulting roles also contributed to this increase.”
Engineering was the second-highest-paid industry with an average annual pay package of $92,479, followed by construction with an average salary of $92,142. Henderson said further wage increases would be dictated by the global market.
“In New Zealand we are price takers, not price makers, so it really depends very much on what is happening in the rest of the world as to how we respond,” she said. “We don’t have a lot of control over our internal pricing.”
