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Pay rates (Labour Cost Index): NZ data and downloads

Labour Cost Index, all salary and wage rates was 1,273.1 index in Jun 2026 qtr, up 2.0% on a year earlier.

Updated

Source: Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa. Last retrieved 10 October 2026.

Pay rates (Labour Cost Index)
Pay rates (Labour Cost Index). Labour Cost Index, all salary and wage rates, Dec 1992 qtr to Jun 2026 qtr, latest 1273.1.05001,0001,5001992199820042010201520212026
Show the figures
PeriodLabour Cost Index, all salary and wage rates (index)
Jun 2026 qtr1273.1
Mar 2026 qtr1265.3
Dec 2025 qtr1259.2
Sep 2025 qtr1253.9
Jun 2025 qtr1248.7
Mar 2025 qtr1240.8
Dec 2024 qtr1234.7
Sep 2024 qtr1227.7
Jun 2024 qtr1219.9
Mar 2024 qtr1205.9
Dec 2023 qtr1196.3
Sep 2023 qtr1184.1
Jun 2023 qtr1170.2
Mar 2023 qtr1157.9
Dec 2022 qtr1146.6
Sep 2022 qtr1134.4
Jun 2022 qtr1122.2
Mar 2022 qtr1109.9
Dec 2021 qtr1101.2
Sep 2021 qtr1094.2
Full data: wage index
June 2026 quarterLabour Cost Index, all salary and wage rates 1273.1
Pay rates (Labour Cost Index). Labour Cost Index, all salary and wage rates: 1273.1 in Jun 2026 qtr.

Lines break at accounting-basis changes and missing periods. Source: Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa.

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Pay rates (Labour Cost Index): NZ data and downloads: definitions

The Labour Cost Index for all salary and wage rates across all sectors, quarterly from 1992. It measures changes in pay for the same work at the same level, so it is not affected by changes in the mix of jobs.

Pay rates (Labour Cost Index): NZ data and downloads: comparison limits

These affect how the figures can be compared.

  • Does not capture pay rises from promotion or changing jobs.
  • Compare with CPI to see whether pay rates kept up with prices.

Pay rates (Labour Cost Index): NZ data and downloads: data by period

The latest ten periods for up to the first six series. Downloads contain every published observation.

PeriodLabour Cost Index, all salary and wage rates
Jun 2026 qtr1,273.1 index
Mar 2026 qtr1,265.3 index
Dec 2025 qtr1,259.2 index
Sep 2025 qtr1,253.9 index
Jun 2025 qtr1,248.7 index
Mar 2025 qtr1,240.8 index
Dec 2024 qtr1,234.7 index
Sep 2024 qtr1,227.7 index
Jun 2024 qtr1,219.9 index
Mar 2024 qtr1,205.9 index

Pay rates (Labour Cost Index): NZ data and downloads: questions for your AI

Download the file, attach it in the assistant you use, then paste the prompt. Whatever it tells you is its reading of the data, not ours.

  1. 1Download wage-index.csv
  2. 2Attach it in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or another assistant
  3. 3
    Paste this prompt

    The attached CSV is Pay rates (Labour Cost Index) (wage-index), from Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa, Labour Cost Index (salary and wage rates). Describe how each measure has changed, naming its unit and period. Treat changes in basis and missing periods as breaks. Distinguish observation from explanation. Limitations: Does not capture pay rises from promotion or changing jobs. Compare with CPI to see whether pay rates kept up with prices.. Do not infer causation from changes during government terms.

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Pay rates (Labour Cost Index): NZ data and downloads: sources

The source publication, licence and snapshot used to build this page.

Organisation
Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa, Labour Cost Index (salary and wage rates)
Licence
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). This work is based on Stats NZ's data which are licensed by Stats NZ for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
Reuse limits
Photos, graphics and logos are excluded. Stats NZ logos and government emblems must not be used.
Snapshot
data/raw/statsnz-lci/2026-10-10_495fd2130903.csv
SHA256
495fd2130903eee10643fe3608cfaedb2b98733e5e3ef912f604cbf18ee766c2
Retrieved
10 October 2026