As an employer, you’ll need to keep up-to-date with the latest minimum wage rate and pay your employees at least the current minimum rate. You must pay your employees at least the minimum wage for every hour they work no matter what responsibilities they have. 

There are three rates:

• Adult minimum wage
• Starting-out wage
• Training minimum wage.

Pay and wages(external link) — Employment New Zealand

Adult minimum wage 

The adult minimum wage applies to all employees aged 16 years and over who aren’t starting-out workers or trainees, and all employees who are involved in supervising or training other employees. 

This is the minimum wage most widely used by Kiwi businesses of all shapes and sizes. 

Starting-out minimum wage 

The starting-out minimum wage applies solely to workers aged between 16 to 19 and who are entering the workforce for the first time. 

Starting-out workers are:

• Aged 16 to 17 and have worked for you for less than six months.
• Aged 18 to 19 and have been paid a specified social security benefit for six months or more, and they haven’t completed six months continuous employment with any employer since they started being paid a benefit. After six months continuous employment with a single employer, they must be paid the adult minimum wage rate.
• Aged 16 to 19 and their employment agreement states that they have to undertake industry training for at least 40 credits a year to become qualified in the area they are working in.

Training minimum wage

The training minimum wage applies to employees aged 20 years or over who are completing at least 60 credits a year of an industry training programme to become qualified in an area they are working in.

The training minimum wage usually applies to apprentices. An apprentice has the same minimum rights and protections as any other employee but can be paid the training wage.

Employing school-age workers

There is no minimum wage for employees under 16 years of age. If you employ any school-aged students (under the age of 16), their work hours must not be outside of school hours and must not get in the way of doing schoolwork.

Exemptions

A small number of people hold an exemption from the minimum wage, for example, prison inmates and some apprentices. These links give full details:

Minimum wage rates(external link) — Employment New Zealand

Minimum wage exemptions for people with disabilities(external link) — Employment New Zealand

Agricultural industry(external link) — Employment New Zealand

If you’re unsure how much you should be paying your employees, or think you might be paying too little,  contact Employment New Zealand for advice.

Email us a query(external link) — Employment New Zealand

In addition to paying the legal minimum wage or higher, you’ll need to ensure your pay policies and practices are as fair as possible.

It’s important to remember that waged employees need to be paid for actual hours worked. This means paying employees at least the minimum hourly wage for any extra time worked.

Paying employees fairly also means:

• Women and men must receive the same pay rates for doing the same or substantially similar work
• You cannot discriminate on the basis of an employee’s colour, race, ethnic or national origins, gender (including pregnancy or childbirth status), marital or family status, age, disability, religious or ethical belief, political opinion, sexual orientation or union activity.

The gender pay gap toolkit

The gender pay gap is the percentage difference between women’s and men’s earnings in the workforce. 

This could be at a job, within an organisation, across an industry or at a national level. 

Currently, the national gender pay gap in New Zealand is 8.2% (as at 30 June 2024).

The gender pay gap is significantly higher for wāhine Māori, Pacific, ethnic, and disabled women than the national gender pay gap, and it is driven by hard to measure factors like conscious and unconscious bias and differences in choices and behaviours. 

To help you calculate if there is a gender pay gap at your business, use the Ministry for Women’s toolkit. The toolkit includes:

• an online calculator for calculating gender pay gap
• a self-assessment questionnaire to identify opportunities for improvement in your business
• a downloadable workbook and templates to support you.

All businesses can benefit from understanding, measuring and reporting on their gender pay gap. 

It is one way to create a more equal workplace, fairer hiring and pay processes, and improve employee productivity and retention.

Try out the gender pay gap toolkit(external link) — Ministry for Women

Learn about why your business should take action(external link) — Ministry for Women