Minimum wage to rise to $20 17 Dec 2020 09:00 AM Photo; The Beehive.
The minimum wage will rise to $20 an hour from April 1.
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood that will lift the incomes of around 175,500 New Zealanders, giving them $44 more each week before tax for a 40 hour week.
He says many minimum wage earners have gone above and beyond in the fight against COVID-19, and supermarket workers, cleaners, and security guards among others deserve a pay rise.
The increase is estimated to boost wages across the economy by $216 million.
Mr Wood says the Government was taking a balanced approach and supporting both employees and employers through the pandemic.
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood.
Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
For someone working 40 hours on minimum wage, the boost means $44 extra in the bank each week.
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood said the minimum wage rise would boost wages across the economy by $216 million.
He said signalling the minimum wage increases over three years helped give businesses much-needed certainty.
He told
Morning Report government looked at a range of factors including a report from MBIE and the timing. We ve seen that the economy is in a stronger position than many people predicted and after the year of Covid we also think that those hardworking cleaners, security guards, checkout workers deserve a good pay rise.
For the staff in Australia and New Zealand, the meaning was surely clear. Perhaps vague about what might or might not constitute something serious, it was limpid in its clarity that calling in sick was itself a serious matter indeed, during a pressured three weeks when it was all hands to the pump. And how intimidating a prospect had Howley just made it for anyone who felt they might be coming down with something? This would be such unwelcome news that it could not merely be passed on to a store supervisor, but needed to go directly to the big boss. Mr Is-That-Clear.