New Zealand Workers Need Bigger Wallets

Able to Buy More Kiwis: Finding and keeping quality employees is an uphill struggle everywhere. While this presents headaches for human resources directors, workers in certain regions are benefiting from higher pay, including those in New Zealand. According to New Zealand labor officials, salaries and wages (including overtime) rose 3.4 percent through the December 2007 quarter—the highest annual rate since the government agency began tracking the statistics in 1992. The accelerated wage growth was not anticipated, and reflects that desperate companies are willing to pay more to hang on to top performers. New Zealand’s strengthening economy, coupled with shortages of skilled workers, prompted companies to fatten employee paychecks. Of the 464 companies surveyed by the independent New Zealand Institute of Economic Research, nearly half say that acquiring top talent is harder now than it was in preceding months, according to Bloomberg.com.