But according to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s inflation calculator for wages, $100,000 in July 1994 dollars is equivalent to earning $297,000 today.
Or, to flip it, earning $33,600 in July 1994 would put you in the same class as someone pulling in $100,000 today.
While $100,000 is still more than the average bear takes home, it’s not much more.
Especially for blokes in our uneven workplace landscape.
The median weekly income for male wage and salary earners in the June 2026 quarter was $1538, or an annualised $79,976, according to Stats NZ.
Thirty-two years ago, $100,000 was executive compensation. Now it’s Working for Families tax financial assistance territory. Photo / Getty Creative
For women, median weekly earnings were $1280 or an annualised $66,560.
Overall, median weekly earnings were $1419 or an annualised $73,788.
Today, a $100,000 earner can even get welfare, and so can the next two bands above them.
If you have three or more kids, and your partner doesn’t work, you can get a Working for Families or Best Start tax credit for an income up to $120,500 (which would have sounded like a knockout in July 1994, but doesn’t spread so far in the housing market or supermarket as of 2026).
New Zealand Shareholders’ Association (NZSA) chief executive Oliver Mander said the starting point for the disclosure law no longer reflects the reality of pay scales in New Zealand.
Bump it to $200,000
For a 2024 review of the Companies Act driven by then Commerce Minister Andrew Bayly, Mander’s group proposed a $200,000 threshold, with bands of $100,000 after that.
That seems sensible. It’s in simpatico with NZSA’s focus on executive team and director compensation and its efforts to untangle chief executive remuneration amid multiyear bonuses and options.
Bayly’s efforts to modernise the Companies Act, which included making it harder for directors to set up new companies to defeat creditors’ interests in their old companies, were mid-flight when he resigned after allegations of bad behaviour last year.
Phase one of Bayly’s reforms went through. The Lodestone Energy IPO is set to be the first under new Product Disclosure Statement and Climate-Related Disclosure rules, but the bulk of the possible changes, dubbed phase two, are still in train.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment recently undertook a round of submissions, but next steps will depend on the make-up of Parliament post-election.
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.