Why NZ job ads hide the salary, and what to do about it

Seek's figure and what it means for applicants

Seek New Zealand said in November 2023 that only about one employer in four on its site showed a salary, although its listings with a salary had risen by a third in a year. That is the latest figure Seek has published, so the share today may be higher. New Zealand's pay transparency change of 27 August 2025 protects employees who discuss their pay; it does not require employers to put pay in job ads. For the ads without one, you apply without knowing whether the role pays $70,000 or $110,000.

That has practical costs. You can spend an evening tailoring an application for a role that turns out to pay well below what you would accept. You go into the first phone screen with less information than the person asking the questions. And when the salary question arrives, you are guessing where the employer's budget sits.

None of this makes an application pointless. It means the pay question needs answering early, by you, rather than left until the offer.

Why employers leave it out

Employers give a handful of reasons, and most are ordinary:

• Room to negotiate. A published figure becomes the starting point for every candidate. Without one, the employer can match an offer to the person.
• Internal relativity. If a new role is advertised above what current staff earn, it can prompt awkward conversations with the existing team.
• An unsettled budget. Some roles are advertised before the band is signed off, especially when the right level is not yet decided.
• Competitors. Some employers prefer not to show other businesses what they pay.
• Habit. Many ads are written from a template that never had a pay field.

Whatever the reason, the work of finding out the pay falls to the applicant.

The asymmetry, and who it costs

A hiring manager usually knows the budget, what the last person in the role earned, and what the market pays. The applicant often knows none of those. That imbalance tends to favour the side with more information.

It costs most the people least likely to ask. In Seek's 2026 survey, 46% of New Zealand workers had never asked for a pay rise. For someone who accepts the first figure mentioned, an ad without a salary makes it likely that figure will be set at the employer's convenience.

It also costs people returning to work, people changing careers and new graduates, who have fewer recent reference points. For them, a band stated up front is often the only reliable information they will get.

Four ways to get the number before you apply

1. Ask for the band. Email or call the contact on the ad before applying: "Could you share the salary band for this role?" Many recruiters will, and if one will not, note that as well.
2. Read the ads that do show pay. Find five or six similar roles, at the same level and in the same region, that include a salary. That gives you a working range.
3. Talk to people. Recruiters who specialise in your field, former colleagues and people in similar roles. Since 27 August 2025, employees in New Zealand are protected when they discuss or disclose their pay, which makes these conversations easier to have.
4. Use the national figures as context. The pay data in New Zealand work in numbers shows how earnings are moving across the country, which helps you judge whether a figure is plausible.

With a range in hand, you can answer the salary question on your terms. When an offer arrives, the Negotiation Coach, part of On the Move, turns your evidence and the real offer into the words for the phone call and the email that follows.

Building your own salary story across applications

The most useful pay data you will ever have is your own. For each application, note what the ad said about pay, the band a recruiter told you, the range you gave, and any offer you received.

jobtracker.co.nz holds most of that on each job: the pay the ad showed, or that it declared none, what you said you wanted and any offer, so the pattern builds as you apply.

After a dozen applications, patterns appear. You may find the band for your role is consistently higher than you assumed, or that one kind of employer pays well above another. That record is your salary story: the evidence behind the next range you give, and the basis for any pay rise conversation once you are in the job. Our guide to salary negotiation in New Zealand covers how to use it when an offer arrives.

Build your own salary evidence