Advertised salaries outpace inflation in February 2024

Advertised salaries in New Zealand went up five per cent in the year to February 2024 to outpace the country's inflation rate, according to SEEK NZ data.

The data revealed that the year-on-year (y/y) growth rate outpaced the 4.7% inflation rate and was faster than the 4.4% advertised salary growth in Australia.

This occurred despite the February growth rate being slightly slower than the 5.1% recorded in the year to the November 2023 quarter.

"Advertised salaries are growing at a decent pace, outpacing inflation and Australian salaries, helped by some large pay settlements in the public sector," said Rob Clark, SEEK NZ country manager, in a statement.

^{Source: SEEK NZ}

Meanwhile, the advertised salaries in New Zealand went up by one per cent in the quarter to February compared to the previous quarter.

"But as the jobs market cools, we're seeing salaries grow more slowly. Advertised salaries were up one per cent in the past quarter, the slowest quarterly rate since late 2022," Clark said.

Salary growth by region, sector

By region, Canterbury saw the fastest rise in advertised salaries after seeing a 6.9% growth year-on-year and a 1.4% quarterly increase.

This is followed by the Rest of South Island, which had a 5.4% y/y increase and a 0.9% quarterly increase.

^{Source: SEEK NZ}

By industry, sectors with the fastest year-on-year advertised salary growth rates were from Healthcare and Medical (11.2%), as well as Consulting and Strategy (11.1%).

The Human Resources and Recruitment sector also had a 4.3% y/y increase, according to the index.

^{Source: SEEK NZ}