User guide for wage and income measures

Statistics New Zealand produces a number of income and wage measures that are useful for different purposes. However, the sheer number, and at times incomparability, of the measures can cause confusion. This user guide clarifies which questions or situations the measures are best applied to as well as their design and purpose.

See the flowchart to help you decide which wage or income measure to use.

For more details see the full user guide.

Links to wage and income measures

Job-level measures

Quarterly Employment Survey
Labour Cost Index (All Labour Costs)
Labour Cost Index (Salary and Wage Rates)
Linked Employer-Employee Dataset (LEED): quarterly job-level release

Person-level measures

New Zealand Income Survey
Linked Employer-Employee Dataset (LEED): annual person-level release
Household Economic Survey
Survey of Family Income and Employment
Census of Population and Dwellings