Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Auckland, New Zealand – 14/04/2026 – New salary data shows that wages are rising, but most New Zealand workers feel no richer. This is revealing a widening disconnect between employer intentions and employee experience, exposing what recruitment experts are calling “The Salary Growth Illusion.”

Research from Robert Walters shows that at the start of 2026, 57% of professionals had received a pay rise from 2025. Yet, 81% say their pay still does not keep up with the rising cost of living. Shockingly, only 17% of employers acknowledge this gap – showing a significant disconnect between salary growth and actual salary growth.

Shay Peters, Robert Walters Australia and New Zealand CEO says, “Salary increases are happening, but for most people, they're being absorbed before they're even felt. On paper, it looks like progress, but in reality, employees are standing still. That disconnect is what we're calling the salary growth illusion, and it's starting to materially impact how people feel about their employer.”

Many New Zealanders are feeling the squeeze from higher prices across essentials. Annual consumer price inflation sat around 3.1% in the year to December 2025, slightly above the Reserve Bank's target range, meaning wages would have needed to rise by at least this amount just to maintain purchasing power.

Last year, most pay rises sat between 2.5-5%, translating to just $2,500-$5,000 extra per year on a $100,000 salary. This is insufficient to offset rising expenses.

Mid-senior roles see biggest increases, interns left behind

• 67% of businesses plan to increase salaries in 2026, while 56% of employees expect a pay rise. 
• Pay rises are more likely at associate and mid-senior levels (77-79% expected to get one), while interns have a 53% chance.
• Recruiters warn this is creating lasting damage that will prove detrimental over time.

“If organisations allow this gap to persist, the consequences go beyond today's workforce. You risk disengaging early-career professionals at a critical stage, weakening your long-term talent pipeline and creating retention challenges that compound over time.”

Tech, finance and legal leaders drive above‑average pay growth in New Zealand

While overall salary increases remain moderate across New Zealand, select roles and cities are breaking away from the pack. Auckland's senior technology and finance leaders recorded some of the sharpest rises, with AI engineers, DevOps specialists and senior data professionals seeing increases of up to $25-30k. In financial services, Auckland-based General Managers of Finance and Commercial Managers rose by as much as $30-50k, while Christchurch legal leaders stood out with General Counsel salaries jumping up to $30k year on year.

“What we're seeing in pockets of the market is a very deliberate premium being placed on capability. Where skills are scarce and roles are business-critical, employers are willing to stretch. It reinforces a clear divide between those with in-demand expertise and those in more saturated areas.” says Peters.  

Auckland leads salary momentum, with selective gains in Wellington and Christchurch

Auckland remains the clear centre of salary momentum in New Zealand, particularly across technology, executive finance and senior leadership roles. Wellington saw more selective growth, concentrated in cyber security and transformation roles, while Christchurch experienced fewer increases overall but delivered some of the largest single jumps in senior legal and finance positions.

The “Salary Growth Illusion” threatens retention and engagement

The perception gap has major implications for retention, engagement, and recruitment. With employees increasingly aware of the mismatch between their pay and the cost of living, businesses risk losing talent if they do not bridge this divide and with 53% of employees looking to move roles this year, retention is a big threat to employers.

“Addressing this isn't simply a question of increasing salaries. It's about aligning reward strategies with real-world pressures and being far more transparent in how those decisions are made. Employees don't just want more, they want to understand that their employer genuinely gets it” Peters concludes.

About Robert Walters

Robert Walters is a global talent solutions business, partnering with organisations across the world to deliver recruitment, recruitment outsourcing and advisory services. Established in 1985, the business has built a strong international presence, operating in over 30 countries.

In New Zealand, Robert Walters works with a broad range of organisations, supporting the recruitment of permanent, contract and temporary roles across disciplines including finance, technology, human resources, legal, business support and more.

About the research

Findings come from the 2026 Robert Walters Salary Guide which surveyed over 5,500 white collar professionals.  

First home buyers are still very keen

The latest figures show that first home buyers’ (FHBs) share of property purchases in the first three months of the year held up at more than 27% – well above their long-term average back to 2005 of around 22%. It’s easy to get a bit blasé about this continued strength for FHBs, but we shouldn’t; it’s more great news.

In Auckland, their share was even higher (about 30%), with Hamilton at 33%, and the wider Wellington area soaring, at 37% (including both Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt at 41%). Other areas of strength around the country in Q1 2026 included Gisborne, Napier, and Palmerston North (all 31%), as well as Hastings and Invercargill (both 29%).

There remain multiple supports for FHB activity. Obviously, lower house prices and reduced mortgage rates help, as does access to KiwiSaver for at least part of their deposit. But not even needing to save a 20% deposit in the first place is proving beneficial too – as part of the LVR rules, the latest Reserve Bank figures show that more than half of FHB loans over January and February were done at less than 20% equity.

Mortgaged investors are back

Turning to mortgaged multiple property owners – MPOs, including the cliched ‘Mum and Dad’ investors – from twin troughs of 21% of activity in Q2 2023 and again in Q2 2024, their share has recently risen back to around 24%, more or less in line with their long-term average. Auckland is up at 26%, Hamilton 28%, and Christchurch 25%.

The data also shows that it’s the smaller players driving the overall rise for mortgaged MPOs – i.e. those that now own two properties after their latest purchase (which would generally be their own home and their first rental property). The MPO 3-4 category has also risen from a trough back in the middle of 2024.

For the MPO buyer group, key supports also include lower house prices and mortgage rates, as well as the shift back to 100% deductibility for interest costs – with the net result being far smaller ‘top ups’ required from other income sources to keep the cashflow position going.

Indeed, our calculations suggest a ‘typical’ new investor may have had to find an extra $400-$450 per week when house prices were higher and mortgage rates were 7% or more (and interest deductions were being phased out), but now that’s perhaps $150-$200 instead – even though buildings insurance and council
rates have risen steadily. It remains a sizeable chunk of cash, but still a lot more feasible for more people.

Movers are still biding their time

Relocating owner-occupiers, or ‘movers’, are another key buyer group, although they’ve been quieter than normal in recent years – for example, accounting for around 26% of activity in Q1 this year, below their average of 28% or so.

History shows that they take their lead from wider consumer confidence levels, economic growth, and job security, with the patchiness of these factors helping to explain movers’ low presence lately – but also suggesting that if and when the economy recovers over the medium term, this group would tend to become more prominent again.

Where to next?

Taking a look ahead, the Iran conflict has put an extra layer of uncertainty over that potential economic recovery, as well as the housing market outlook too.

Obviously the hope is that the ceasefire becomes permanent and we can get back to ‘normality’. But there’s always the risk it doesn’t prove lasting and, even if it does, there’ll still be some economic dislocation in the near term as a rebuild process gets underway.

Overall, there now seems a fair chance that our pre-existing forecast that property sales volumes could rise from around 90,000 in 2025 to about 100,000 in 2026 may be starting to look a bit strong. In addition, rather than a modest gain of up to 5% this year, property values may now be closer to flat, or even slightly down again.

But whatever the final total for sales volumes proves to be, how could each of the main buyer groups shape up? All else equal, movers could see their market share rise a bit as the economy (hopefully) recovers, while it also wouldn’t be a surprise to see mortgaged MPOs tick along at around recent levels – they have some supports, but also a few headwinds, including weak rental growth, the political cycle (e.g. possibility of a capital gains tax), and debt to income ratio caps.

If movers do perk up a bit, it’s not totally out of the question that FHBs’ market share drops a little in the next 12-18 months (after a very strong run) – after all, market share must always add up to 100%. But in a bigger pie with potentially more sales taking place, there could still be a higher raw number of FHBs.

Isolated on a Taiwanese fishing vessel, eight days from the nearest landmass, 22-year-old Indonesian fisherman Sugiama was found dead in his bunk in 2019.

His death followed an 18-hour shift and an assault the night before, when he was hit across the head for not working fast enough.

For University of Auckland modern slavery expert Associate Professor Christina Stringer and Dr Sallie Yea of Charles Sturt University (NSW), Sugiama’s death is not only a tragedy, but part of a disturbing pattern affecting migrant fishers working in distant waters.

The researchers examined the cases of 55 Indonesian migrant fishers who died or went missing on East Asian distant water fishing vessels between 2015 and 2022.

Through the lens of necropolitics; the politics of death and the power dynamics surrounding the control and regulation of life and death, they argue these vessels can function as zones where marginalised workers can face violence, neglect and precarious conditions.

Of the 55 Indonesian men who died or went missing at sea, 15 causes of death went unreported. The researchers found 12 deaths were the result of unsafe working conditions, ten due to delayed medical care, nine a result of denied medical care, five related to preventable dehydration and malnutrition, two the result of torture or violence, and two were ruled suicides.

Only four investigations into the deaths of any of the deceased fishers were recorded.

“We document how isolation at sea enables the systematic disposability of migrant workers, with deaths occurring through direct violence, accidents and suicides and prolonged neglect leading to malnutrition and preventable illness,” says Stringer.

The study points to critical gaps in governance, including failures in mandatory death reporting and investigation, as well as jurisdictional complexities that can allow companies and captains to evade accountability.

The researchers say that when vessels operate outside regulatory oversight, when profit maximisation supersedes the rights of fishers, and when precarious employment strips workers of basic protections, death can become a structural outcome.

They also point to intense pressure on board many vessels. Workers can spend months to more than a year at sea, working long and exhausting hours to meet catch quotas in harsh, remote and weakly regulated environments.

“Meaningful change requires directly challenging the power structures that allow captains to make life-and-death decisions with impunity,” the researchers write in their paper Death and disposability of Indonesian migrant fishers at sea. (ref. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40152-025-00469-2 )

The death of a relative is a profound tragedy for families, with emotional and financial ramifications that can extend for years, and Yea and Stringer’s next research project will explore the support, or lack of, for family members who are left behind when their loved one dies at sea.

“We are currently investigating the long-term impacts on families, including economic hardship and legal battles for compensation,” says Yea.

“Understanding these relationships has important implications for accountability and culpability in the sector.”

Source: Maritime NZ

The Auckland High Court has upheld the initial guilty finding and sentence of former Port of Auckland Chief Executive, Tony Gibson, after stevedore, Pala'amo Kalati, was killed at the port in August 2020 by a falling container.

“Our thoughts continue to go out to Mr Kalati’s family and friends, as well as those also impacted by this tragic incident, including the other surviving victim,” Maritime NZ Director, Kirstie Hewlett, said.

Maritime NZ prosecuted Mr Gibson under the Health and Safety at Work Act. He was found guilty after a trial in the Auckland District Court in 2024. Mr Gibson then appealed to the High Court.

“We are pleased to see the High Court has reinforced that Mr Gibson did not exercise his due diligence responsibility to ensure the port complied with its health and safety obligations,” Ms Hewlett said.

“Mr Gibson had the knowledge, influence, resources and opportunity to address safety gaps and ensure that appropriate systems were in place at the port, but failed to do so.

“During his more than a decade managing it, the port company was convicted of several offences under health and safety legislation, including for incidents resulting in fatalities and serious injuries.

“Mr Gibson knew of safety issues around critical risks that could hurt people on the port but he did not take timely action to address them, even though it was in his control and influence to do so.

“It is hoped this case will serve as a strong reminder to chief executives of large companies – they need to understand the critical risks at their businesses, assure themselves through reliable sources that there are controls and systems in place, and verify that these controls and systems are working effectively to improve safety.

“In saying this, I recognise there are many officers in New Zealand who are meeting their health and safety obligations, and they should be confident this decision reaffirms the work they do to keep their people safe at work.”

Maritime NZ will continue to work with WorkSafe NZ and other bodies like the Business Leaders Health and Safety Forum to provide guidance for chief executives, including taking into account any amendments to the health and safety legislation.

Note:

The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 uses the term “person conducting a business or undertaking” (PCBU). For ease of reading by the general public, Maritime NZ has referred to the PCBU as the “port” in this media release.

The District Court had fined Mr Gibson $130,000 and ordered him to pay costs of $60,000. The High Court upheld the conviction and sentence.