Abstract:
In recent decades New Zealand has experienced a fall in wage shares in relation to productivity growth. Because of this rise in inequality of wage shares, it has prompted researchers to look at alternative models to the current neoliberalism one that is operating in New Zealand. One of these models is wage led growth, where an increase in wages brought on by higher training, government leadership and collective bargaining, and stimulates an economies aggregate demand. And leads to a positive flow on effect within the economy. This leads to the research question: what would wage led growth look like in a New Zealand context? In researching this question, ten participants were interviewed about their opinion and knowledge of the New Zealand economy, the New Zealand government, training in New Zealand, and union involvement in New Zealand. This study found that although the wage led growth a theory has potential to work in a New Zealand context, there are many barriers to its application.