How we calculated your Essential Skills pay rate
We looked at your employment agreement to calculate how much you will be paid. The Essential Skills Work Visa closed to new applications on 4 July 2022. If you have an existing visa, your individual conditions will remain until the visa expires.
Calculating your pay rate
The conditions of your Essential Skills visa depend on if you are paid below the median wage or the median wage or above.
To determine your pay rate, we calculated how much you are paid per hour, based on your employment agreement.
To be considered above the median income, every hour you work must be paid above the NZ median wage, which was NZD $27 an hour up to 4 July 2022.
Updating Essential Skills pay rate thresholds
If you are paid hourly
If you are paid an hourly rate, for example NZD $27 an hour, then we used that to calculate your level.
If you are paid a wage for standard hours and a different rate for overtime hours
If you are paid a wage for standard hours and a different rate for any extra hours you work, such as overtime or weekend hours, we used the lowest hourly rate to calculate your level.
For example, if you are paid NZD $27 an hour for 40 hours of work each week, and NZD $37.50 an hour for any additional hours, then we used NZD $27 an hour to calculate your level.
If you are paid a salary for a set number of hours
If you are paid a salary for a set number of hours each week, we divided your salary by the number of hours you work to calculate your level.
For example, if you are paid NZD $55,000 each year for 40 hours of work a week, the calculation was: $55,000 ÷ 52 weeks ÷ 40 hours each week = $26.44 an hour.
If you are paid a salary for a range of hours
If you are paid a salary for a range of hours each week, we divided your salary by the maximum number of hours you could work to calculate your level.
For example, if you are paid NZD $55,000 an year for 40 to 45 hours of work a week, the calculation was: $55,000 ÷ 52 weeks ÷ 45 hours each week = $23.50 each hour.
If you are paid a salary and your hours change each week
If you are paid a salary and your hours change each week, we used the lowest hourly rate to calculate your level.
For example, if you are paid NZD $54,000 a year, and usually work 52 hours each week, except for 8 weeks when you work 64 hours a week, the calculation to find your lowest hourly rate was: NZD $54,000 ÷ 52 weeks ÷ 64 hours each week = NZD $16.23 each hour.
We may have asked for evidence of the range of hours you will work.
This situation often applies to farm workers, who may have employment agreements that state the different hours expected during different parts of the year.
If you are paid a salary with an hourly rate for overtime
If you are paid a salary, with an hourly rate for additional work like overtime, we checked what the hourly rate would be for your salary, what the hourly rate is for overtime, and used the lowest hourly rate to calculate your level.
For example, if you are paid NZD $55,000 each year for 40 hours of work a week, and NZD $37.50 per hour for overtime, then the calculation to find your lowest hourly rate was: $55,000 ÷ 52 weeks ÷ 40 hours each week = $26.45 each hour.
Including deductions in pay rate calculations
When we calculated your pay rate, we included reasonable, agreed deductions, for example, for accommodation, goods and services, if you met a particular pay rate threshold.
The pay rate calculation did not include:
- allowances, such as tool or uniform allowances, or
- bonuses, which are dependent on performance.
Piece rates for Essential Skills Work Visas
You are paid piece rates if you are paid a fixed amount for every item you produce, no matter how long it takes you to produce it.
Piece rates were not included when we calculated pay rates for Essential Skills Work Visas.
If you want to get a second job
If you have been granted an Essential Skills Work Visa that lets you have a second job (secondary employment), the level was determined by your main job's pay rate.
For example, we determine your employment to be above the median wage if you had 2 jobs and:
- 1 was 40 hours a week and paid more than the median wage, and
- the other was 10 hours a week paid just above minimum wage.
You were granted an Essential Skills Work Visa based on your main employment, which must meet the visa's conditions.
Check your visa conditions
If your employment package includes accommodation
If your employer provides you with accommodation as part of your employment package, then deduct the cost of this from your salary. If the deduction is reasonable and you have agreed to it in writing, then the cost of the accommodation was included when we calculated your pay rate.