Strong earnings growth in public & private sectors

Embargoed until 10:45am – 22 May 2008

Strong earnings growth in public and private sectors

Average mean quarterly earnings and the number of filled jobs continued to grow in the five years to March 2007, Statistics New Zealand said today.

The average mean quarterly earnings for full-quarter jobs increased by 4.3 percent in the March 2007 year, and 22.7 percent in the five years to March 2007, to $10,760. Both the public and private sector average mean quarterly earnings grew by 4.1 percent in the March 2007 year, with earnings at $13,310 in the public sector and $10,120 in the private sector. Over the five-year period, average mean quarterly earnings grew by 26.2 percent in the public sector, and 21.5 percent in the private sector.

The annual average number of filled jobs was 1,769,750 in the March 2007 year, an increase of 1.6 percent from the March 2006 year, and 16.8 percent in the five years since March 2002. In the year to March 2007 most filled jobs (81.0 percent) were in the private sector. Nearly half (45.6 percent) of all filled jobs were in firms with 100 or more employees.

In the year to March 2007, there was an average quarterly worker turnover rate of 17.1 percent. The private sector had a higher worker turnover rate (18.3 percent) than the public sector (11.9 percent).

These results come from statistics released today from Linked Employer-Employee Data (LEED). LEED uses information from existing taxation and Statistics NZ sources to provide a range of information on the dynamics of the New Zealand labour market.

More detailed statistics from LEED are available on the Statistics NZ website (http://www.stats.govt.nz/leed/).

Geoff Bascand
Government Statistician
22 May 2008

ENDS

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