Policy Point Faster trend Labour productivity growth cover

Policy Point: Faster trend Labour productivity growth after the ECA 1991

The New Zealand Initiative rebuts the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety’s claim to a select committee that New Zealand’s labour productivity growth rate since 1991 was 46% below that of Australia. On figures recently supplied by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the correct figure was 30%. Read more

Dr Bryce Wilkinson
Policy Point
18 July, 2022
Policy Point Minister hopelessly ill informed on labour market statistics cover

Policy Point: Minister hopelessly ill-informed on labour market statistics

Last month, the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety, Michael Wood, appeared before Parliament’s Education and Workforce Committee in support of the Government’s Fair Pay Agreement Bill. He was asked for his response to the New Zealand Initiative’s case that the wage rates were not showing a ‘race to the bottom,’ a decline in either employees’ share of income, or labour productivity growth since the Employment Contracts Act in 1991. Read more

Dr Bryce Wilkinson
Policy Point
5 July, 2022
Annual Report 2021 cover

2021 Annual Report

Like many businesses, Covid meant that The New Zealand Initiative had to continue to work differently. It also kept giving us extra policy challenges to address. Read more

5 April, 2022
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Research Note: The rising cost of living for Kiwis

Kiwis households are paying more than $3,000 extra on essentials than they were 12 months ago, and policies implemented by the Government and Reserve Bank are contributing to the problem. The rising cost of living for Kiwis, shows New Zealand has the second-highest inflation rate among our major trading partners, besides the USA, and this is plausibly the result of excessive government stimulus. Read more

Research Note
24 March, 2022
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Pretence of Necessity

At May’s Budget, the government will commit $4.5 billion to new spending on climate change, more than $2,000 per household. The government will also deliver its Emissions Reduction Plan, an array of levies, subsidies, regulations and hard bans. Read more

21 March, 2022
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Research Note: Unemployment Insurance - A recipe for more unemployment?

When presenting Budget 2021 in May, Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced that an unemployment insurance (UI) scheme was being developed for New Zealand. Prior to this, the Productivity Commission had considered UI as part of its inquiry into technological change and the future of work, as had the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE). Read more

Research Note
11 November, 2021
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Walking the path to the next global financial crisis

New Zealand must prepare for next global financial crisis New Zealand’s economy suffered less damage from the pandemic than analysts expected. But new research warns, however, that just as we are emerging from the COVID-19, a new crisis is already on the horizon. Read more

Dr Bryce Wilkinson
4 November, 2021
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Illusions of History: How misunderstanding the past jeopardises our future

Closing his 2020 Budget speech, Finance Minister Grant Robertson looked back to the First and Fourth Labour governments for lessons on how to tackle New Zealand’s current economic challenges. His first history lesson was that the way forward today lay in the “great traditions of the First Labour Government” (1935–49) that “rebuilt New Zealand after the Great Depression” under Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage. Read more

Dr Bryce Wilkinson
20 September, 2021

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