The Five Year Measurement Review of the Living Wage is underway. It will ensure that the Living Wage meets the needs of working people in 2023 and beyond.

A new Living Wage rate, and the full details of the review, will be officially announced on Monday 3 April 2023.

The last Measurement Review was in 2018.

The Living Wage should do what we say it does.

The Living Wage is ‘The income necessary to provide workers and their families with the basic necessities of life. A living wage will enable workers to live with dignity and to participate as active citizens in society.’

The measurement of the Living Wage rate is reviewed every five years.

The Living Wage Movement contracts the Family Centre for Social Policy and Research Unit to do this work. This ensures an independent process and outcome.

The Measurement Review considers the latest national data on:

• Rent
• Food costs and needs
• Energy costs and usage
• GP visits and prescriptions
• Broadband and mobile charges
• Costs of early childhood, primary and secondary education
• Miscellaneous but essential expenses: clothing, shoes, services, modest recreation.

Government transfers, such as subsidies or tax credits, also have an impact on the measurement.

If a Living Wage is enough for any worker to live with dignity, it must also be sufficient for families with children. That’s why the Living Wage is calculated to support the needs of two adults and two children on 1.5 incomes. You can read more about this here, on page 6 of the 2018 Measurement review.

This process is different to Living Wage annual updates.

You might be more familiar with the Living Wage annual updates, which happen between the Five Year Measurement Review.

The annual updates are linked to the movement in New Zealand’s average ordinary time hourly rate.

You can read about previous Measurement Reviews and annual updates here.

The Measurement Review will give us the 2023/24 Living Wage rate.

Accredited Living Wage Employers pay the 2022/23 rate of $23.65 until 31 August 2023.

On 1 September 2023, accredited Living Wage Employers should pay the new rate for 2023/24.

Keep talking about what the Living Wage means to you and your community.

It’s Living Wage champions and supporters like you who keep the Living Wage on the agenda.

You raise the bar for big and small employers everywhere. It’s your energy and advocacy that’s changed over 50,000 workers lives (and counting!)

On 3 April 2023, and beyond, this work continues. Thanks for being part of it.

Ngā manaakitanga
Rev. Stephen King

Chair
Living Wage Movement Aotearoa NZ Governance Board