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Economy

The NZCTU actively works with its affiliates to build a high-wage, high-skill, low-carbon economy in which good work is available to all.  

For decades, Aotearoa New Zealand has underinvested in our people and infrastructure, and workers have been denied their fair share of economic growth.  

The NZCTU’s policy work focuses on how Aotearoa New Zealand can address its major economic challenges of low wages, climate change, and infrastructure, and how we can build a productive economy in which all workers thrive.  

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Economic Bulletin

The Economic Bulletin provides a worker’s perspective on the New Zealand economy. In each issue, we analyse the latest economic data, examine trends in the New Zealand economy, and discuss policies that will improve outcomes for working people.

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Previous Issues

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This Budget is funded above all by the gutting of the pay equity system, the halving of the government’s contribution to people’s Kiwisaver accounts, and other cuts that will disproportionality impact women, welfare recipients, and working households.

Budget 25

“This Budget is funded above all by the gutting of the pay equity system, the halving of the government’s contribution to people’s Kiwisaver accounts, and other cuts that will disproportionality impact women, welfare recipients, and working households,” said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney.

“None of the choices the government has made were inevitable. The government could have funded its spending initiatives by raising new taxes on the wealthiest New Zealanders. It could have not decided to give billions away to those who already have much, while cutting services for those with real and pressing needs.

“Budget 2025 also leaves New Zealand’s most significant structural challenges unaddressed. There is no meaningful movement on closing the infrastructure deficit; no solution to our health workforce shortage; no willingness to reduce child poverty or to address the housing crisis; and absolutely zero investment made in decarbonisation and climate adaptation.

“The coalition government continues to kick the can down the road on the most pressing challenges we face, all while making life steadily more difficult for New Zealanders who have the least,” said Renney.

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