Economy

In the third Wellbeing Budget on May 14, which will respond to the effects of the Covid-19 lockdown, at least the following items are vital… Read More »A Wellbeing Budget for Covid-19 times

This month I was going to write about all the clawbacks and abatements of tax credits, accommodation supplement and the like. As they, like soaring rents, can seriously undermine the impact any pay increases people receive.

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

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