Sunshine wages: fact or fiction?

Marlborough is one of the sunniest regions in New Zealand, but are the region’s workers sacrificing salary for the extra sunshine?

The average household income in Marlborough this year stands at $86,600, compared to the national average of $97,000, according to the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment.

But a business consultant believes the so-called ‘‘sunshine wages’’ of Marlborough, and the top of the south, are a myth.

Forte Management consultant Tony Smale said the make-up of jobs in Marlborough played a part in the lower household income.

A fifth of workers in Marlborough were employed in agriculture, forestry and fishing, compared to the national average of 6.8 per cent, in the year ending 2015. Marlborough also had 14.3 per cent of workers employed in manufacturing, compared to the national percentage of 10.2 per cent, for the same year.

‘‘We have a high proportion of our workforce involved in relatively low paid jobs so we don’t have lots and lots of [high paid jobs], if you went to Wellington, for example, a higher proportion of their population would be senior executives,’’ Smale said.

The ministry figures showed Marlborough’s household income was closer to neighbours Nelson, which stood at $86,700.

Smale said Marlborough had one of the lowest average wages in New Zealand in the 1990s, but even that was not down to employers paying less. ‘‘We used to have the lowest or

‘‘I think it’s actually in our favour because we still have the sunshine, and jobfor-job, the wages aren’t lower here.’’ Tony Smale

second lowest average wage in New Zealand and that was one of the driving factors in establishing our economic development agency trust back in 1999 ... I chaired that and one of the first things we did was set out comparisons across different regions for the same job.

‘‘Even back then we were able to establish that job-for-job, there was no difference, in the case of vineyard workers for instance, we were slightly higher than Hawke’s Bay. I think it’s actually in our favour because we still have the sunshine, and job-for-job, the wages aren’t lower here,’’ Smale said.

In 2015, SEEK New Zealand said the average salary for jobs in the region listed on their website was the lowest in the country at $61,373, about $1800 behind second last place Otago. SEEK said

Marlborough’s average was $5000 short of that offered in Nelson/ Tasman and a whopping $19,561 behind top placed Wellington.

‘‘Wellington has had a very high average wage because traditionally public servants have been located in Wellington so you get a higher figure,’’ Smale said.