OECD: New Zealand Had Worst Wage Growth in Past Five Years

The OECD Employment Outlook 2026 found New Zealand's real wages fell 6.4 percent below Q1 2021 levels — the worst performance among 37 OECD countries over the past five years. The ranking uses the OECD's labour cost index, which adjusts for workforce composition changes. Other wage measures show less severe declines, economists told RNZ, but the headline finding is likely to shape policy debate around labour costs and living standards.