Who received the Wage Subsidy and Wage Subsidy Extension?
Initial work on the Wage Subsidy has been supplemented with anonymised information from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). The IDI is a large anonymised research database maintained by Stats NZ and contains data about life events, like education, industry, region, demographics, income, benefits, migration, justice, and health. It comes from government agencies, Stats NZ surveys, and non-government organisations (NGOs).
This has allowed us to create a more complete understanding of who received support by age, sex, ethnic group, industry and region based on data to 24 July 2020. This report describes the volume and proportion of jobs supported by the Wage Subsidy and Wage Subsidy Extension.
This data is sourced from:
- the 27 July 2020 COVID Wage Subsidy dataset which records who received the Wage Subsidy or Wage Subsidy Extension;
- the June 2020 ad hoc Employer Monthly Schedule dataset (Inland Revenue data) to determine the total number of paid jobs; and
- the July 2020 IDI refresh for determining demographic, industry and location details for people in the groups above.
Key insights
The period covered by the original Wage Subsidy has substantially ceased, as applications were open from 17 March to 9 June 2020. The payment covered 12 weeks, therefore only a small number of applicants are still covered by the original subsidy.
Overall, 58% of jobs (excluding sole-traders) received support from the original Wage Subsidy. This has decreased to 16% for the Wage Subsidy Extension.
Applications for the Wage Subsidy Extension are currently open until 1 September 2020. The proportion of jobs supported by the Wage Subsidy Extension are therefore expected to increase as future applications are submitted and paid. The Wage Subsidy Extension provides support to cover 8 weeks, so will cover up to 26 October 2020.
The proportions differ by age, sex, industry and region.
- A greater proportion of employed males have been supported (65% for the Wage Subsidy and 18% for the Wage Subsidy Extension).
- A greater proportion of Asian employees have been supported (64% for the Wage Subsidy and 22% for the Wage Subsidy Extension).
- The construction industry had the highest proportion of supported jobs from the Wage Subsidy
- The arts and recreation services industry had the highest proportion of supported jobs from the Wage Subsidy Extension (48%).
- The accommodation industry had the second highest proportion of supported jobs from both the Wage Subsidy (93%) and Wage Subsidy Extension (46%).
- Auckland had the highest proportion of supported jobs (63% for the Wage Subsidy and 20% for the Wage Subsidy Extension)
Additional information
What other support is available?
This report only considers the Wage Subsidy and Wage Subsidy Extension. It does not consider any of the other supports available including:
- the COVID-19 Income Relief Payment (CIRP)
- the COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme
- the Essential Worker Leave Support Scheme
Information about other supports can be found here.
Why does this analysis not show the Tourism Sector?
The tourism sector has been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and consequential border closures. This sector is not captured as a single industry within ANZSIC06, but crosses across multiple industries such as Accommodation and Retail Trade.
There is no comparable information available to identify which businesses receive income from tourism. However, the Wage Subsidy Business Survey found that 30 percent of Wage Subsidy Survey respondents received income from tourism.
This survey also provides interesting insights into other aspects of the Wage Subsidy including information on businesses who identify as Māori or Pacific businesses.
