The cost of living in New Zealand

Salaries for small jobs are normally paid weekly. For more skilled jobs, you could be paid every fortnight or even sometimes (but rarely) every month.
The pay depends of course on the jobs you find, but also on the number of hours you work each week.
The minimum wage is $23.15 an hour (2024/2025) which is about $19.10 after tax.

With this wage, you earn about:

In June 2022, the median weekly salary for people aged between 20 and 30 was $1,170 gross per week. Of course, this is a median wage and without a highly skilled or specialised job, it’s difficult for working holiday makers to expect this type of wage. A number of employee organisations in New Zealand estimate that the wage needed to live adequately in New Zealand should be around $33 per hour (gross) in 2023.

Fruit pickers are usually paid by the bin. However, no matter how much you pick . However, no matter how good you are at picking certain fruits or how fast you do it, employers are required by law to pay you at least the minimum wage (the law also allows the employer to fire you if you are too slow).

Here are just a few examples of average hourly salaries (gross) in 2022:

• Waiter: between $23 and 25
• Chef: between $23 and 38
• Kitchen hand: about $23
• Call center: between $27 and 35
• Private teacher / Tutor: between $28 and 39
• Orchard work (pruning, thinning, picking, packhouse): between $23 and 25 (up to $29 for supervisors)
• Nanny: between $23 and 30
• Labourer (landscaper, carpenter, painter, furniture mover) : between $23 and 40
• Software developer/ graphic designer: between $26 and 40

This data comes from Careers New Zealand. This excellent government website offers a database of more than 400 professions: average salary (per hour or per year), job description and job opportunities in New Zealand in this sector.