The labour income share in New Zealand
There is international interest in changes in the labour income share. In part, this reflects concerns that in a number of countries, real wage growth has not kept pace with labour productivity growth in an environment of rapidly changing technology.
This paper investigates changes in the labour income share in the “measured sector” of the New Zealand economy and provides insights into the causes of these changes. Changes in the labour income share are decomposed into contributions from productivity growth and changes in quantities and prices in labour, capital and product markets.
Industry contributions to changes in the labour income share are also examined, and comparisons with Australia are drawn. It turns out that the labour income share has fallen in the measured sector of the New Zealand economy over the past 35 years, in no small part because of sharp falls over three short periods. Aside from these falls, results also show that growth in real wages has been closely aligned with productivity growth and that there is no systematic relationship between strong productivity growth and falls in the labour income share. Indeed, the important message from this paper is that strong productivity growth sustains strong growth in real wages.
Publications
Filter publications by topic.
1 May 2023
28 February 2023
28 February 2023
27 February 2023
27 February 2023
23 December 2022
21 December 2022
30 September 2022
29 September 2022
18 July 2022
9 June 2022
31 May 2022
28 May 2022
28 May 2022
1 April 2022
1 December 2021
14 November 2021
8 November 2021
8 November 2021
8 November 2021
8 November 2021
27 September 2021
1 September 2021
27 May 2021
21 April 2021
21 April 2021
20 April 2021
20 April 2021
1 April 2021
25 February 2021
4 December 2020
30 November 2020
4 September 2020
31 August 2020
30 June 2020
28 April 2020
18 March 2020
9 March 2020
19 February 2020
30 November 2019
16 October 2019
16 August 2019
7 June 2019
16 May 2019
14 February 2019
1 February 2019
1 February 2019
24 December 2018
14 November 2018
1 August 2018
20 March 2018
22 February 2018
23 November 2017
23 November 2017
1 November 2017
29 September 2017
1 June 2017
20 February 2017
16 December 2016
28 November 2016
27 April 2016
12 January 2016
1 December 2015
29 June 2015
29 May 2015
29 May 2015
5 February 2015
21 January 2015
5 June 2014
5 June 2014
1 March 2014
19 December 2013
20 September 2013
16 July 2013
