Hourly rate to salary in NZ: what $30, $40 and $50 an hour is a year

The 2,080-hour convention, and the local variants

The usual conversion treats a full-time job as 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, or 2,080 hours a year. It is a convention rather than a law, and it assumes you are paid for every week of the year, including your leave.

Two variants are common in New Zealand:

• 37.5 hours a week. Some workplaces, including some offices and public sector employers, use a 37.5-hour week, which is 1,950 hours a year. At $40 an hour, that is $78,000 rather than $83,200.
• Part-time hours. Multiply the rate by the hours you will actually work each week, then by 52. Twenty-five hours a week at $30 an hour is $39,000 a year.

If an ad gives an hourly rate without the hours, ask.

In jobtracker.co.nz a job can be saved at its hourly rate with its hours a week, and its take-home is worked out the same way as a salary, so hourly and salaried roles sit on one board.

A conversion table

The take-home column assumes PAYE, the ACC earners' levy and KiwiSaver at 3.5% at the 2026/27 rates, spread evenly across the year. With a student loan, take off 12% of everything above $24,128 a year. Our table of salary after tax shows the figures with a student loan included.

Hourly with leave, and salary with leave

Most permanent employees in New Zealand are paid for their leave, whether they are paid by the hour or by salary. Under the Holidays Act 2003, that includes four weeks of annual holidays after 12 months of continuous employment, up to 12 public holidays, and 10 days of paid sick leave a year once you have worked for the employer for six months.

So a permanent job at $40 an hour for a regular 40-hour week is broadly comparable with a salary of $83,200. The difference shows up when the hours are not regular, or when leave is not paid as time off.

Leave law is changing. The Employment Leave Act 2026 replaces the Holidays Act on 6 August 2028, and until then the Holidays Act applies. Our guide to employment rights in New Zealand covers the minimums that apply to every employee.

Casual loading and public holidays

New Zealand law has no general casual loading of the kind some other countries use. The one statutory option is holiday pay paid as you go, where the rules allow it, which must be agreed in your employment agreement and shown separately in your pay; anything more is by agreement. Casual work is usually paid by the hour with no promise of hours. Where work is so irregular that four weeks of annual holidays cannot practically be given, or on a genuine fixed-term agreement of less than 12 months, an employer may pay 8% of your gross earnings on top of your pay instead of annual holidays. This is often called pay-as-you-go holiday pay.

It means a casual rate of $30 an hour plus 8% is really $32.40 an hour, but with no paid annual holidays. When you compare it with a permanent job, compare like with like: either add the 8% to the casual rate, or remember that the permanent job pays you through four weeks you do not work.

Public holidays matter as well. If you work on a public holiday, you must be paid at least time and a half, and if the day would otherwise have been a working day for you, you also get an alternative holiday. Jobs rostered across public holidays, such as hospitality, retail and healthcare, can pay noticeably more across a year than the base rate suggests.

Comparing an hourly contract with a salaried offer on take-home

When you are choosing between an hourly job and a salaried one, bring both to the same basis:

• Convert the hourly rate using the hours you will actually be offered, not the maximum.
• Add 8% if the hourly job pays holiday pay as you go, and count the unpaid weeks.
• Count paid overtime or penal rates only if they are regular and likely.
• Compare the result as take-home pay per fortnight, after PAYE, ACC, KiwiSaver and any student loan.

Convert the hourly rate to a yearly figure first, then the Offer Comparer does the after-tax side for two offers at 2026/27 rates with no account. If the hourly role is an independent contract rather than employment, the sums are different again, because the rate has to cover your own leave, KiwiSaver and gaps between contracts. Our article on contract rates against salaries sets out that calculation.

Compare hourly and salaried jobs side by side