Union members benefit from a pay premium and other advantages resulting from their collective action and voice. But do unions provide a wider benefit to society over and above what they do for their members?
Read More »Unions as a public good
In July, the Centre for Labour, Employment and Work (CLEW) at Victoria University released their annual analysis of collective employment agreements (CEAs). It shows again that people who are part of a collective get better pay rises: the union pay premium.
In June, Statistics New Zealand published data from its annual Annual Enterprise Survey (AES) which shows company profits, wages and salaries paid, and many other… Read More »Company profits rising, wage shares falling
Last Tuesday the CTU launched a report by economist Dr Ganesh Nana on the evidence as to the impacts of industry (or sector) collective bargaining.… Read More »Fair Pay Agreements and the retail sector
Was the “Wellbeing Budget” much different from any other Budget? Was it better? It is of course the first one, so we need to allow… Read More »The Wellbeing Budget
The Prime Minister has announced that the Government will not tax the income from capital gains while she is Prime Minister. It has therefore lost… Read More »Finding enough revenue and the ‘Wellbeing Budget’
This commentary is an edited version of a recent speech, “Transforming New Zealand’s low wage economy”. Whether we look at international comparisons, or look at… Read More »Transforming New Zealand’s low wage economy
The Tax Working Group (TWG) has reported back. The reactions to the proposal for taxing the income from capital gains have ranged from the sublime… Read More »What the Tax Working Group did and didn’t do
This commentary looks at the year ahead. The Prime Minister has described this as the year of ‘delivery’ for the Government and she aint wrong.… Read More »The outlook for 2019
Newly released statistics allow us to update the share of New Zealand’s income that goes to wages and salaries – the labour share – for… Read More »How New Zealand’s income is shared, 2018
In August, the Centre for Labour, Employment and Work (CLEW) at Victoria University released their annual analysis of collective employment agreements (CEAs). It shows again… Read More »The union pay premium, 2018
How well does New Zealand’s tax system perform in reducing inequality? What would be the effect of some likely changes to it discussed in the… Read More »New Zealand’s tax system: weak at reducing inequality