The Minimum Wage in New Zealand

The Minimum Wage in New Zealand

The minimum wage is the floor under which an employer can pay an adult employee for ordinary hours. The government sets it by Order in Council rather than through negotiation; it changes on a fixed date each year, and it applies whether or not the employment agreement mentions it.

Most of the practical difficulty is not in the headline hourly rate. It is in working out who is entitled to it, what happens when someone is paid by the day, week or fortnight rather than by the hour, and why two lower rates exist at all.

This guide sets out the figures in force and then works through those questions, because the second part is where the mistakes tend to happen.

How We Researched This Guide

The figures come from Employment New Zealand's page on minimum wage rates and types, which is the government's own statement of the rates currently in force. We also checked the instrument that made the change, the Minimum Wage Order 2026.

Where a rule is genuinely complicated — in particular what counts as a day or a week for someone paid by the day or the week — we have set the mechanism out as it is described rather than attempting a simplified version of it. In those cases, the detail matters.

The Quick Summary (60-Second Version)

The short version, for anyone in a hurry.

• The adult minimum wage is $23.95 an hour, before tax and before lawful deductions.
• It is also expressed as $191.60 for an eight-hour day, $958.00 for a forty-hour week and $1,916.00 for an eighty-hour fortnight.
• The starting-out and training minimum is $19.16 an hour, with matching daily, weekly and fortnightly figures.
• The adult rate applies to employees aged 16 or over unless they are starting-out workers or trainees.
• Any employee who supervises or trains other employees must be paid the adult rate, whatever their own status.
• Someone paid by the day, week or fortnight gets the flat rate for the period plus the hourly rate for hours beyond it.

The Rates in Force From 1 April 2026

The Minimum Wage Order 2026 came into force on 1 April 2026 and revoked and replaced the order that had set the previous figures. From that date the adult rate rose from $23.50 an hour to $23.95, and the starting-out and training rate moved from $18.80 to $19.16.

The daily, weekly and fortnightly figures in that table are not separate entitlements. They are the same rate expressed over a longer period, and they exist so that an employer paying by the day or the week has a stated amount to work from.

Each figure is gross, so it is the rate before tax and any lawful deductions. What reaches a bank account will be lower by whatever comes off, and the minimum wage does not change that calculation in any way.

Who Is Entitled to the Adult Rate

The adult rate applies to any employee aged 16 or over who is not a starting-out worker or a trainee. Age is the starting point, but it is not the whole test — the two lower rates turn on a person's status as much as on their birthday.

One group gets the adult rate regardless of anything else. Employees who supervise or train other employees are entitled to the adult rate even if they would otherwise fall into one of the lower categories.

It is also worth clarifying who the minimum wage applies to. The rules focus on employees rather than contractors, so whether an arrangement is employment or contracting is a separate question with its own consequences — and the agreement’s title does not settle it.

What Counts as a Day or a Week

For an employee paid by the day, the entitlement is the daily rate of $191.60 plus $23.95 for each hour worked beyond eight on that day. The employee is owed both the daily rate and the extra hours; the flat figure does not cover the extra time.

Paid weekly, the same structure applies to a forty-hour week: $958.00 for the week plus $23.95 for every hour beyond forty. Paid fortnightly, it is $1,916.00 for eighty hours plus $23.95 for each hour over eighty.

The pattern is deliberate. The flat daily, weekly or fortnightly figure covers the standard period, and the hourly rate then picks up anything beyond it. An employer who treats the daily rate as covering whatever hours were actually worked has applied the rule incorrectly.

This is why the daily and weekly figures should not be read as a simpler way to calculate a wage over a longer period. They anchor the standard period, and hours beyond it are still paid at the hourly rate on top.

The three periods are not interchangeable, either. A day is a day, a week is a week, and a fortnight is the same week measured twice — so an employer who pays fortnightly is working from the eighty-hour figure rather than two forty-hour weeks added together.

Why the Starting-Out and Training Rates Exist

The two lower rates exist so employers can hire people who might otherwise look like a risk — younger workers with little employment history, and people in recognised industry training — without paying the full adult rate while those workers build skills.

The starting-out rate does not apply automatically because of age. It is a status a worker must meet, and the government defines who counts as a starting-out worker, not the employer. An employer cannot simply decide that a new employee is starting out.

The training rate is built for people doing recognised industry training, and it applies while they are in that training. It is not a general discount for someone learning on the job outside a recognised programme.

Both rates are the same, $19.16 an hour, which is why they are usually discussed as a pair. The important point is that they are exceptions to the adult rate with defined boundaries, not a lower rate an employer may pick for convenience.

Before Tax, and Before Lawful Deductions

The figures in the order are gross amounts. They describe the rate before PAYE, before the ACC earners' levy, and before any other deductions, so the amount that reaches a bank account will always be lower than the figure quoted.

The second half of that rule is less obvious. The minimum is assessed before lawful deductions, so you cannot use a lawful deduction to argue that pay has fallen below the minimum. The floor is measured on the gross rate.

That is why a payslip can show a deduction bringing the net figure well below the hourly minimum without anything being wrong. For the minimum wage, what matters is the rate applied, not the balance left after deductions.

Questions You Might Have

Does the minimum wage apply to casual and part-time workers?

Yes. The minimum wage sets a floor on the rate, not the hours, so it applies to casual, part-time, and fixed-term employees in the same way it applies to full-time permanent staff. Fewer hours means less pay, not a lower rate.

What happens if I work more than eight hours in a day?

If you are paid by the day, you are entitled to the daily rate of $191.60 plus $23.95 for each hour worked beyond eight. The same principle applies to a week of more than forty hours and a fortnight of more than eighty.

Does the rate change automatically each year?

No. The rate is set by Minimum Wage Order rather than by an automatic formula, so it must be changed deliberately each time. The order in force from 1 April 2026 replaced the previous one, and this guide reflects the rates it set.

Is the starting-out rate just for younger workers?

It applies to workers in the starting-out category, which the government defines, not the employer. Everyone else aged 16 or over who is not a starting-out worker or a trainee is on the adult rate, and anyone who supervises or trains other employees must be too.

What is the point of the daily and weekly rates?

They give an employer who pays by the day or week a fixed figure to work from, rather than requiring the hourly rate to be recalculated every time. They act as a floor for the standard period, with the hourly rate applying beyond it.

What Matters Most

The headline number is the easy part. What matters is the two-part structure underneath it: an hourly rate, and a set of figures for the standard day, week and fortnight that the hourly rate builds on when more hours are worked.

The second thing to get right is entitlement. The adult rate covers anyone aged 16 or over who is not a starting-out worker or a trainee, and it must be paid to anyone who supervises or trains other employees, whatever their own category would otherwise be.

All the figures here are from Employment New Zealand's published rates and the order that set them. They are before tax and lawful deductions, and are in force from 1 April 2026.