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  • Have your say
  • Data and analysis
  • Document Library
  • Building and energy

    Building and energy

    • Building and construction

      Building and construction

      • Reforming the building regulatory system and building and construction sector
      • Building and maintaining New Zealand’s homes and buildings
      • Response to Canterbury earthquakes
      • Response to the rapid building assessment system review
      • Building and construction consultations
      • Investigations and reviews for safer buildings
      • Residential pool safety
      • Supporting a skilled and productive workforce
      • Regulating building professionals and practitioners
      • Building Performance Website
      • Building System Insights Programme
      • Earthquake-prone building and seismic risk management review
    • Tenancy and housing

      Tenancy and housing

      • Rental bond data
      • Housing Affordability Measure
      • Evaluation of 2016 changes to the Residential Tenancies Act
      • Tenancy website
    • Energy and natural resources

      Energy and natural resources

      • Energy consultations and reviews
      • Energy and natural resources statistics and modelling
      • Minerals and petroleum
      • Energy strategies for New Zealand
      • Low emissions economy
      • Energy hardship
      • Energy generation and markets
      • International engagement on energy
      • Subscribe to New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals Updates
      • NZ Petroleum and Minerals Website
      • Pānui – Energy and Resource Markets
  • Business and employment

    Business and employment

    • Employment and skills

      Employment and skills

      • Employment Action Plan
      • Employment Strategy 2019
      • Fair Pay Agreements legislation
      • Health and safety
      • Employment legislation reviews
      • Our international labour relations
      • Labour market reports, data and analysis
      • Future of Work Tripartite Forum
      • NZ Industrial Relations Foundation
      • Plan of action against forced labour, people trafficking and slavery
      • Employment website
      • Regional Skills Leadership Groups
      • Discussion document: NZ Income Insurance Scheme summary
    • Consumer Protection

      Consumer Protection

      • Know your consumer rights
      • Business guidance
      • Consumer Protection Website
      • Consumer research and reports
      • Review of consumer credit law
      • Review of consumer law
      • Combatting online financial scams
      • Buy Now Pay Later
      • Corded blind safety
      • Country of origin of food
      • Ticket reselling in New Zealand
      • Disclosure regulations and third-party fundraisers consultation
      • New wheel clamping rules
      • COVID-19 Consumer Travel Reimbursement Scheme (the Scheme)
    • Business

      Business

      • Support for business
      • Financial markets conduct regulation
      • Competition regulation and policy
      • Regulating entities
      • Standards and conformance
      • Trade and tariffs
      • Intellectual property
      • business.govt.nz
    • Economic growth

      Economic growth

      • Going For Growth
      • Circular Economy and Bioeconomy
      • Digital Policy
      • Growing the food and beverage sector
      • Long-term insights briefings
      • Major events
      • Māori economic development
      • Promoting financial literacy and capability in Pacific communities
      • Regional economic development
      • Screen sector
      • Te Ōhanga Māori - The Māori Economy
      • Tūhoe economic worldview: mapping to an orthodox framework
      • Previous Economic Development work
  • Immigration and tourism

    Immigration and tourism

    • Isolation and quarantine

      Isolation and quarantine

      • Managed Isolation and Quarantine
      • Media and resources
    • Immigration

      Immigration

      • Immigration consultations
      • Recognised Seasonal Employer policy review
      • Changes to temporary work visas
      • Immigration website
      • Addressing temporary migrant worker exploitation
      • Migration research and evaluation
      • Release of immigration information
      • Our Future Services
      • Immigration legislation reviews
    • Tourism

      Tourism

      • Tourism recovery
      • Tourism projects
      • New Zealand-Aotearoa Government Tourism Strategy
      • Tourism funding
      • Subscribe to tourism sector alerts
    • Tourism research and data

      Tourism research and data

      • Tourism data overview
      • Tourism Evidence and Insights Centre
      • Tourism data releases
      • Tourism data insights
      • International tourism forecasts
      • Subscribe to tourism data alerts
  • Science and technology

    Science and technology

    • Science and innovation

      Science and innovation

      • Open and upcoming science and innovation funding opportunities
      • Agencies, policies and budget initiatives
      • Funding information and opportunities
      • International opportunities
      • News and success stories
      • Research and data
      • Subscribe to updates
    • New Zealand Space Agency

      New Zealand Space Agency

      • About us
      • New Zealand Space and Advanced Aviation Strategy 2024 to 2030
      • New Zealand space and advanced aviation sector economic report
      • International engagement
      • Careers in space
      • Our regulatory regime
      • NZSpaceTalk
      • New Zealand is the ideal location for new space
      • Permits and licences for space activities
      • Space-related opportunities in New Zealand
      • Prime Minister's Space Prizes
      • New Zealand Space Scholarship
      • Contact the New Zealand Space Agency
    • Communications and Broadband

      Communications and Broadband

      • Our role in the telecommunications sector
      • Digital connectivity programmes
      • Postal services in New Zealand
      • Radio spectrum
  • Cross-government functions

    Cross-government functions

    • Auckland Policy Office
    • Government Centre for Dispute Resolution

      Government Centre for Dispute Resolution

      • Guidance on dispute resolution
      • Help with your dispute
      • GCDR’s role
      • Why dispute resolution is important
      • Dispute resolution resources
      • Dispute resolution research and insights
    • Regulatory stewardship

      Regulatory stewardship

      • Regulatory systems and stewardship
      • Regulatory system governance
      • Our assessment of regulatory systems
      • Regulatory systems amendment bills
      • Regulatory charters
      • International regulatory cooperation
    • New Zealand Government Procurement and Property

      New Zealand Government Procurement and Property

      • New Zealand government procurement open data
    • Language Assistance Services

      Language Assistance Services

      • Telephone and video interpreting service
      • Face to face interpreting service
      • Translation services
      • New standards and accreditation requirements from 1 July 2024
      • Participating agencies
      • Toolkits and resources
      • The guidelines project
      • Becoming a translator or interpreter for government agencies
  • About

    About

    • Who we are

      Who we are

      • Our senior leadership team
      • Our structure
      • Our promise Te Kī Taurangi
      • Corporate publications
      • Our ministers
      • Our services
      • Our external boards
      • Crown entities and statutory boards
      • Board appointments
      • Code of Conduct
      • Flexible working at MBIE policy
      • Prosecution policy
      • Child Protection
    • Work for us
    • Open government and official information

      Open government and official information

      • Data sharing
      • Published Official Information Act requests
      • Transparency Statement
      • Make a request for official information
      • Release of information
    • News
    • Our websites
    • Engage with us on social media
    • Contact us

      Contact us

      • Feedback, enquiry and complaints form
      • How we process complaints
      • Information gathering concerns and feedback
      • Screen share
      • Responsible disclosure of security issues
    • Upcoming events
    • MBIE Suppliers information
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Home ›
Business and employment › Employment and skills

Employment and skills

The effective use of knowledge, skills and capital in business is a major driver of innovation and growth. This increases wages, lifts business competitiveness and profitability, and leads to better social and economic outcomes. The interaction of skilled people and innovative businesses provides the greatest scope for economic growth between now and 2025.

Employment Action Plan

The Employment Action Plan presents the Government’s vision for the labour market to support people into work and lift economic outcomes for New Zealand.

  • Employment Action Plan – August 2024
  • Inclusive workplaces for kaimahi Māori – Summary report

Employment Strategy 2019

The Employment Strategy presents the Government’s vision for the labour market to improve employment outcomes for all New Zealanders.

  • Aotearoa New Zealand’s Employment Strategy
  • Māori Employment Action Plan
  • Youth Employment Action Plan monitoring and reporting dashboard

Fair Pay Agreements legislation

On 20 December 2023, the Fair Pay Agreements legislation was repealed.

Health and safety

A high-performing health and safety regulatory system contributes to our goal of healthy, safe and fulfilling work for all New Zealand workers, and to grow New Zealand for all.

  • Health and safety at work strategy
  • Health and safety reform
  • Energy safety
  • The Royal Commission on Pike River
  • Health and safety consultations
  • Targeted review of adventure activities
  • Independent reviews of WorkSafe

Employment legislation reviews

From time to time, we review employment and accident compensation legislation. Our current and past reviews are listed on this page.

  • Employment Relations Act 2000 amendments
  • Holidays Act reform
  • Increasing the minimum sick leave entitlement
  • Workplace relations in the screen industry
  • Forced Labour Protocol
  • Extending paid parental leave
  • Equal Pay Amendment Act
  • Law change for Easter Sunday shop trading
  • Employment Standards Legislation Act
  • Proposed Accident Compensation Appeal Tribunal
  • Accident compensation dispute resolution review
  • Reviewing regulated ACC payments for treatment
  • Employment Relations Amendment Act
  • Minimum wage reviews
  • Sex work in New Zealand
  • Changes to the process for setting pay for Members of Parliament
  • Security officers – additional employment protections
  • Matariki
  • Updating Accident Compensation Review Costs Regulations
  • Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Day
  • Changes to ACC’s Accredited Employers Programme
  • Review framework for list of occupational diseases
  • Contractor work in Aotearoa New Zealand
  • Support workers – request for additional employment protections
  • Changes to ACC regulations for Chinese medicine, paramedics and audiometrists
  • Accident Compensation (Interest on Instalments) Amendment Act
  • Setting the average ACC levy rates for 2025/26, 2026/27, and 2027/28

Our international labour relations

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) provides advice on relevant international labour issues and assesses the impact of international developments on New Zealand's labour interests.

  • International Labour Organization
  • Trade and Labour
  • Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

Labour market reports, data and analysis

This section provides labour market analysis and forecasting, data on jobs and skills, and reports on Māori and Pacific Peoples labour market participation and other research.

  • Jobs Online
  • Other tools and reports
  • Labour Market Statistics Snapshot
  • Preparing all young people for satisfying and rewarding working lives Long-Term Insights Briefing
  • Archives

Future of Work Tripartite Forum

The future of work is being shaped by 4 broad global megatrends: technology change, demographic change, globalisation and climate change. These global trends create both risks and opportunities for New Zealand.

NZ Industrial Relations Foundation

The NZ Industrial Relations Foundation (Inc) (the Foundation) is an educational trust set up to promote, through education, better industrial relations in New Zealand.

Plan of action against forced labour, people trafficking and slavery

The all-of-government plan of action against forced labour, people trafficking and slavery sets out a high-level framework for the actions that agencies will take over the next five years to 2025, to combat these practices.

  • Plan of action implementation reports
  • Modern slavery and worker exploitation

Employment website

Regional Skills Leadership Groups

In 2019, Regional Skills Leadership Groups (RSLG) were established to support the development of workforce plans for regions. These Regional Workforce Plans (RWPs) were to be informed by regional economic development priorities to ensure businesses attract people with the right skills to the right place.

  • Tai Tokerau
  • Tāmaki Makaurau
  • Waikato
  • Bay of Plenty
  • Tairāwhiti
  • Hawke’s Bay
  • Taranaki
  • Manawatū–Whanganui
  • Wellington
  • Marlborough
  • Nelson Tasman
  • Te Tai o Poutini West Coast
  • Canterbury
  • Otago
  • Southland Murihiku

Discussion document: NZ Income Insurance Scheme summary

Read a summary of the New Zealand Income Insurance scheme.

  • Introduction
  • Our proposals at a glance
  • Most workers will be covered by income insurance
  • Financial support is provided for most jobs losses
  • Claimants will be offered support to get back to work
  • NZIIS The scheme will be managed by ACC, which will also collect the levy
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