Business employment data includes filled jobs and gross earnings, with breakdowns by industry, sex, age, region, and territorial authority area, using a combination of data from two different Inland Revenue sources: the employer monthly schedule (EMS) and payday filing. Both are associated with PAYE (pay as you earn) tax data.
Key facts
Total actual filled jobs in the December 2024 quarter were 2.28 million.
In the December 2024 quarter (compared with September 2024 quarter):
- total seasonally adjusted filled jobs were down 0.3 percent (6,248 jobs).
For the year ended December 2024 compared with the year ended December 2023:
- total gross earnings were up 4.5 percent ($7.68 billion).
An annual comparison is used for earnings to account for payroll timing differences between quarters.
| Date | Percentage change |
| Dec-18 | 0.9 |
| Mar-19 | 0.9 |
| Jun-19 | 0.5 |
| Sep-19 | 0.5 |
| Dec-19 | 1.0 |
| Mar-20 | 0.4 |
| Jun-20 | -1.0 |
| Sep-20 | 0.7 |
| Dec-20 | 0.0 |
| Mar-21 | 0.4 |
| Jun-21 | 1.2 |
| Sep-21 | 1.3 |
| Dec-21 | 0.7 |
| Mar-22 | 0.0 |
| Jun-22 | 0.3 |
| Sep-22 | 1.0 |
| Dec-22 | 0.5 |
| Mar-23 | 1.0 |
| Jun-23 | 1.1 |
| Sep-23 | 0.4 |
| Dec-23 | 0.4 |
| Mar-24 | 0.1 |
| Jun-24 | -0.6 |
| Sep-24 | -0.8 |
| Dec-24 | -0.3 |
Filled jobs changes by industry
At an industry level, the largest changes in seasonally adjusted filled jobs compared with the September 2024 quarter were in:
- construction - down 1.7 percent (3,055 jobs)
- education and training - up 0.9 percent (1,821 jobs)
- health care and social assistance - up 0.5 percent (1,464 jobs)
- manufacturing - down 0.6 percent (1,392 jobs)
- professional, scientific and technical services - down 0.8 percent (1,362 jobs).
Filled jobs changes by region
At a regional level, the largest changes in seasonally adjusted filled jobs compared with September 2024 quarter were in:
- Auckland - down 0.4 percent (2,833 jobs)
- Wellington - down 0.6 percent (1,488 jobs)
- Manawatu-Whanganui - down 0.6 percent (632 jobs)
- Otago - up 0.5 percent (536 jobs)
- Waikato - down 0.2 percent (452 jobs).
Filled jobs changes for men and women
In actual terms, from the December 2023 quarter to the December 2024 quarter, the number of filled jobs fell by 1.9 percent (22,237 jobs) for men and fell by 1.2 percent (14,262 jobs) for women.
Earnings by industry
In actual terms and at an industry level, the largest increases in total annual gross earnings for the year ended December 2024, compared with the year ended December 2023, were in:
- health care and social assistance - up 8.2 percent ($1.75 billion)
- public administration and safety - up 7.0 percent ($1.08 billion)
- education and training - up 5.5 percent ($737 million).
Gross earnings
Gross earnings correspond to the amount paid to all employees in the reference quarter. They exclude retirement payments, redundancy payments, and employee benefits. The length of an employee's pay period can cause variability in the number of pay days in the quarter - for example, a fortnightly pay normally occurs twice a month but, on some occasions, can occur three times a month. This can cause volatility in the monthly series.
More data
Employment indicators
Use Infoshare to view and download time-series data for:
Subject category: Industry sectors
Group: Business data collection - BDC
Note that due to a small portion of uncoded data, there will be small differences in the sum for filled jobs by region, age, sex, and the value for total New Zealand.
Monthly enterprise counts, entries, and exits
Subject category: Industry sectors
Group: Business data collection - BDC
Table: Enterprise counts - New Zealand (monthly)
Definitions and metadata
Employment indicators - DataInfo+ provides general methodology and definitions relevant for employment statistics.
Technical enquiries
Declan Tobin
04 931 4600
[email protected]
ISSN 2744-3965
Next release
Business employment indicators: March 2025 quarter will be released on 9 June 2025.
