{"id":357382,"date":"2026-03-31T20:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T20:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/357382\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T20:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T20:30:11","slug":"needed-more-than-ever-living-wage-rises-to-29-90-per-hour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/357382\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Needed more than ever&#8217;: Living wage rises to $29.90 per hour"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/4N0XL0Y_181219-money07_14600\" width=\"1050\" height=\"647\" alt=\"Generic money.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nThe living wage was set by Living Wage Aotearoa NZ. (File photo)<br \/>\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Rebekah Parsons-King\n<\/p>\n<p>The living wage will rise to $29.90 per hour from 1 April, a 95c increase from the previous $28.95.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/business\/556747\/living-wage-to-be-increased-to-28-point-95-per-hour-from-september\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The living wage<\/a> is independently calculated by the Family Centre Social Policy Unit and released by Living Wage Aotearoa NZ, a coalition of unions, faith, and community groups.<\/p>\n<p>The organisation argued <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/business\/591089\/fuel-cost-jumps-40-in-a-week-who-s-feeling-it-most\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">higher fuel costs were putting extra pressure<\/a> on low-paid workers, many of whom were shift workers with no choice but to drive to work.<\/p>\n<p>Muriel Tunoho, the coalition chairperson, said: &#8220;Right now, in a cost-of-living crisis that seems to be getting worse every day, the Living Wage is needed more than ever.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/4JYTO78_shared_image_jfif\" width=\"1050\" height=\"787\" alt=\"E t\u016b co-President Muriel Tunoho.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nMuriel Tunoho. (File photo)<br \/>\nPhoto: RNZ\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Low-paid workers are struggling to keep their heads above water and to cover the absolute basics like rent, power, and kai.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>More than 340 employers were accredited Living Wage Employers.<\/p>\n<p>There was no legal requirement for employers to pay more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/business\/580462\/why-are-we-all-paid-close-to-minimum-wage\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">than minimum wage<\/a>, which is $6 below living wage.<\/p>\n<p>The living wage increase was double that of minimum wage, which also rises to $23.95 on Wednesday &#8211; an increase which did not keep up with inflation.<\/p>\n<p>Living Wage lead organiser Finn Cordwell said the living wage would help struggling families live a life of dignity which was not possible currently on the minimum wage.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We would like the government to reflect on how out of step the minimum wage has become for low-paid workers and whether anyone around that Cabinet table could actually live on $23.95 an hour.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Living wage employers have until 1 September to implement the new rate.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/radionz.us6.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=211a938dcf3e634ba2427dde9&amp;id=b3d362e693\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The living wage was set by Living Wage Aotearoa NZ. (File photo) Photo: RNZ \/ Rebekah Parsons-King The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[48,138,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-357382","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-current-affairs","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-podcasts","16":"tag-public-radio","17":"tag-radio-new-zealand","18":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}