7. Question No. 7—FinanceANDREW BAYLY (National—Port Waikato) to the Minister of FinanceQuestion No. 7—Finance7. ANDREW BAYLY (National—Port Waikato) to the Minister of Finance: Have wages kept up with inflation in New Zealand over the last 12 months; if not does this mean New Zealand households are worse off than they were 12 months ago?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): The member knows that across the world we are seeing higher rates of inflation and New Zealand is not immune from that. We can see this in the 4.6 percent average rate of inflation across OECD countries for the year to October 2021. Though inflation has risen above the rate of hourly earnings increases as a result of the recent quarterly data over a longer period of time real wage growth has been strong. Since 2018 wages have risen by 3.5 percent on average annually while inflation has risen by 2 percent annually over the same period and as recently as the second quarter of this year wages had been rising ahead of inflation. In answer to the second part of the question this is not necessarily the case. For example approximately 116000 more people are employed than 12 months ago and 37000 fewer people are working less hours than they would like to. The Government has also announced an historic investment in our welfare system which builds on earlier measures such as the Families Package and the indexation of benefit levels to wages. I do acknowledge that the rising cost of items such as petrol and food places a strain on household budgets. However the Government's approach of supporting employment through COVID-19 and improving the adequacy of income support has put many households in a better position to manage these increases.Andrew Bayly: Can he confirm that with inflation at nearly 5 percent it is over double the increase in wages and salaries which means New Zealand households are materially worse off?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: What I can confirm is annual wage growth using the average hourly earnings measure was 3.5 percent in the most recent data compared to 4.9 percent for inflation.Andrew Bayly: How does he expect a family to afford fruit and veggies when prices have risen just under 10 percent in the year to September the largest increase since this index was measured?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: As I said in my primary answer the cost of food is something that places a strain on household budgets. It's one of the reasons that we focused on making sure we lift the incomes of low-income New Zealanders. I welcome this change of heart from the National Party to support benefit increases.Andrew Bayly: How does a young student or pensioner on a fixed income afford to pay their rent for new tenancies—new tenancies—that have increased by almost 8 percent in the year to September?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The member is using the flow measure as he notes of rental prices—Andrew Bayly: And are you going to use the stock? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: He's reading my mind. But actually I'm not. What I'm going to tell him is that while it was 7.8 percent in September it was 5.8 percent in October. It shows the volatility of that particular measure. He is better off using the stock measure which was an increase of 3.3 percent.Hon Chris Hipkins: Has he seen any opposition to measures that are designed to increase household incomes?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Sadly I have seen opposition to measures such as increasing the rates of benefit or indeed increasing the minimum wage on a regular basis to support low-income New Zealanders but consistency is not something I'm looking for across the House.Andrew Bayly: What does he say to Aucklanders who have spent 91 days in lockdown who are facing rapidly increasing costs of living making it much more difficult to put food on the table and to buy presents for Christmas?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: What I say to Aucklanders is what I've said several times in this House—that I thank them for the sacrifices that they have made on behalf of New Zealanders to make sure that we can get through this pandemic and I also say to them that they can rely on the Government to stick to the plan we've got which has led to us having one of the lowest mortality rates in the world and an economic recovery better than many other countries in the world.