Table of Contents

  • This Survey is published on the responsibility of the Economic and Development Review Committee of the OECD, which is charged with the examination of the economic situation of member countries.The economic situation and policies of New Zealand were reviewed by the Committee on 13 May 2019. The draft report was then revised in the light of the discussions and given final approval as the agreed report of the whole Committee on 13 June 2019.The Secretariat’s draft report was prepared for the Committee by David Carey, Andrew Barker and Carrie Exton under the supervision of Vincent Koen. Statistical research assistance was provided by Isabelle Luong, editorial assistance by Sisse Nielsen and the Survey was prepared for production by Carolina Gonzalez. The Survey also benefitted from contributions by Andrés Fuentes-Hutfilter, Valéry Dugain, Lara Fleischer and Margreet Frieling.The previous Survey of New Zealand was issued in June 2017.Information about the latest as well as previous Surveys and more information about how Surveys are prepared is available at www.oecd.org/eco/surveys.

  • Current well-being in New Zealand is generally high, but some weaknesses have emerged. Performance is very good for employment and unemployment, perceived health, social support, air quality and life satisfaction but not so good for earnings and household income, housing affordability and the incidence of long working hours. The income distribution is more unequal than the OECD average, reflecting lower than average redistribution through taxes and transfers, and is more skewed towards high-income households. Education, health and housing outcomes vary strongly by socio-economic background and ethnicity – Māori and Pasifika tend to fare worse.

  • The New Zealand Government is applying a well-being approach to policy and budget decision-making with the objective of lifting New Zealanders’ well-being. Their approach embraces the whole of government, with agencies working together to achieve well-being objectives, a focus on inter-generational outcomes and moving to broader measures of success. The new well-being focus is being deployed through a range of actions: amending legislation to embed well-being objective-setting and reporting; developing well-being frameworks and indicator sets; and using well-being evidence to inform budget priority-setting and decision-making.