Public servants’ earnings revealed

Reports released by the State Services Commission last week disclosed the earnings of public servants and government employed chief executives.

BY Chloe Taylor 18 Dec 2014

Last week, the State Services Commission revealed the number of public servants in salary bands above $100,000.

The report showed that more than 7000 public servants earn more than $100,000 annually, an increase of 11% in the past year.

According to the data, more than 7000 workers in the public service and state sector earn in excess of $100,000 per year – quite a jump from the 5600 in 2012.

HR professionals – who fall into the same category as legal and finance professionals – earned an average salary of $85,351 this year in state services, while managers earned an average $119,917.

In addition to this, a further 5665 employees of publicly owned tertiary education institutions fell into the $100,000 and over bracket this year.

The figures do not fully encompass the salaries of the highest earning public servants, as the government’s chief executives and directors’ salaries are disclosed in separate reports.

Earnings of the police and Defence Force are also published separately.

The highest-paid public servants – excluding chief executives – were three people earning between $470,000 and $479,999.

Reports on executives employed by the government showed that their earnings were down by a total of $500,000 on the previous year.

The figure, which is the lowest in six years, was said by the commission to reflect the “ongoing control” of the pay of public servants.

“Chief executive remuneration requires a careful balance between ensuring we can attract and retain highly qualified and skilled leaders for New Zealand's public institutions while being prudent and restrained when spending public money,” state services commissioner Iain Rennie said.

The highest earnings of a state-employed chief executive this year was $800,000, which was the total remuneration over the year for the head of the management of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund.

In comparison with New Zealand’s private sector, the amount seems rather ordinary – New Zealand’s highest paid chief executives earn up to $4.1m per year.