Wages and costs in December

So the latest labour market statistics are out … and since the “quality-adjusted wage increase” (what is actually just inflation expectations) exceeded “inflation” (proxied by annual growth in the CPI) I thought people might say something about it.

I mean hell, when it was the other way around we didn’t hear the end of it – even when we pointed out why the comparison was weird, and why there were specific one off factors behind the shift.

Now the data is out, its been 30 minutes, and all I see is this and this.  Nothing wrong with what they’ve said per see (although it would be nice to point out that the wage increase is for a fixed quality and quantity of worker) – but if they were so keen to make it sound like New Zealander’s were getting poorer before, why not say they are getting richer now.  At least be consistent right … 😉

Update:  Ahh but this happens everywhere right.