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Evidence · NZ Election 2026

Every question, every answer, every source

Everything the study collected, as it was collected on 5 October 2026. Read any answer in full, or download the tables behind every figure in the study.

questions
174
voters the questions were written as
32
answers collected, of 820 planned
815
answers compared like for like
800
pairs of national and town answers
124
answers with sources recorded
774
answers that showed a link
304

01

Every question, with its answers

Each question was written as a voter would ask it and went to all four assistants. Some were also asked from a town. Open a question to read every answer to it in full.

Showing 20 of 174 questions

Show all 174

02

The tables behind the study

Every figure on the study page comes from these tables. They are CSV files, which open in any spreadsheet.

  • Questions

    nz-election-2026-questions.csv

    One row per question.

    Question id, report reference, question, voter, issue, towns it was also asked from, answers per assistant

    174rows

    Download questions (CSV)

  • Answers

    nz-election-2026-answers.csv

    One row per answer, with its full text.

    Answer id, question id, assistant, town, words, parties named, showed a link, websites recorded as sources, compared like for like, full text

    815rows

    Download answers (CSV)

  • Sources by answer

    nz-election-2026-sources.csv

    One row for each website recorded as a source of an answer.

    Answer id, question id, assistant, town, website, publisher type

    4,216rows

    Download sources by answer (CSV)

  • Checks against official sources

    nz-election-2026-checks.csv

    One row per statement checked.

    Check, answer id, assistant, what the answer said, verdict, what the source says, source, date

    17rows

    Download checks against official sources (CSV)

  • Who to vote for: coding

    nz-election-2026-guidance.csv

    One row per answer to the eight questions that asked who to vote for.

    Answer id, question id, assistant, what the answer did, the words that show it

    32rows

    Download who to vote for: coding (CSV)

  • Location and national answers

    nz-election-2026-towns.csv

    One row per question asked both nationally and from a location, for each assistant.

    Question, town, assistant, both answer ids, parties named nationally and from the town, same parties

    124rows

    Download location and national answers (CSV)

Use these tables to trace findings back to the original questions and answers. The full text of each answer is also on this page, under its question.

03

Read in full and checked

Some answers were read in detail or checked against official sources. Those appear on the study page, beside the findings they support.

ChatGPT · No location

For the 2026 New Zealand general election: What are parties offering on job creation, wages, retraining and employment rights?

Below is a comparison of the main New Zealand parties’ stated positions for the 2026 general election on job creation, wages, retraining and employment rights. Policies can change during the campaign, so this reflects published positions available in the lead-up to the election. Policies for Party vote - NZ Election 2026 - Policy.nz

Party Job creation / economic growth Wages Retraining, skills & apprenticeships Employment rights
Christopher Luxon / New Zealand National Party Emphasises private-sector growth, business confidence, investment, infrastructure and reducing barriers for employers. Focuses on wage growth through productivity and economic growth rather than stronger wage-setting regulation. Supports trades training and employer-led skills development. Supports flexible employment arrangements and retaining tools such as trial periods; opposes some industry-wide wage-setting approaches. Compare NZ Political Parties Side by Side | Policy Navigator
New Zealand Labour Party Proposes government investment in infrastructure, innovation and industry development, including a future investment fund. Supports raising wages through higher minimum wages, stronger collective bargaining and industry-wide pay standards. Proposes expanded apprenticeship support, including employer payments and grants for tools, plus Māori-led vocational training initiatives. Supports stronger unions, fair pay agreements, more worker protections and changes to leave settings. Compare NZ Political Parties Side by Side | Policy Navigator
Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand Links job creation to climate investment, renewable energy, public services and a transition to greener industries. Proposes a higher minimum wage and policies such as a four-day working week. Supports worker transition programmes, including help for people moving from fossil-fuel industries into other work. Supports banning zero-hours contracts, extending paid parental leave and strengthening worker protections. Compare NZ Political Parties Side by Side | Policy Navigator
ACT New Zealand Emphasises business flexibility, lower compliance costs and incentives for employers to hire. Opposes wage-setting by law and argues wages should be driven by labour-market conditions. Supports flexible training approaches and employer choice. Supports keeping flexible hiring rules, including trial periods, and reducing employment regulation. Compare NZ Political Parties Side by Side | Policy Navigator
New Zealand First Focuses on prioritising New Zealand workers, regional development and domestic capability. Argues for policies aimed at protecting local workers’ wages, including tighter immigration settings. Supports more apprenticeships and vocational training. Emphasises workplace safety and protections for New Zealand workers. Compare NZ Political Parties Side by Side | Policy Navigator
Te Pāti Māori Focuses on Māori economic development, community-led employment and investment in Māori businesses. Supports raising wages and has advocated broader income support approaches. Supports Māori-led employment and training programmes. Emphasises addressing inequities in employment outcomes and supporting Māori workers. Compare NZ Political Parties Side by Side | Policy Navigator
The Opportunities Party Focuses on productivity, innovation and creating better-quality jobs. Argues its proposed Citizen’s Income would improve workers’ bargaining power by giving people more ability to refuse poor-quality jobs. Emphasises innovation and skills linked to higher-productivity work. Supports reforms intended to improve worker security and bargaining power. Compare NZ Political Parties Side by Side | Policy Navigator

Key differences by issue

Job creation

Wages

Retraining and skills

Employment rights

For a voter comparing these issues, the biggest dividing line is usually between a more regulated labour market with stronger collective protections versus a more flexible labour market with fewer employer constraints. The parties differ in how they balance wage growth, business competitiveness, worker security and government involvement. Compare NZ Political Parties Side by Side | Policy Navigator

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Gemini · No location

For the 2026 New Zealand general election: What are parties offering on job creation, wages, retraining and employment rights?

For the 2026 New Zealand general election, political parties have drawn distinct lines regarding economic management, workforce development, and industrial relations. The policy offerings across the major parties focus heavily on how to stimulate growth, handle cost-of-living pressures, and shape the future of work.

1. Job Creation and Economic Growth

  • National Party: Focuses on broad economic growth and business incentives to stimulate hiring. Key mechanisms include targeted tax incentives (such as the Investment Boost tax package to encourage business investment), cutting red tape, and reducing company compliance costs to foster private-sector job creation.
  • Labour Party & Left-Bloc Allies (Greens, Te Pāti Māori): Emphasize state-backed and public sector-driven job creation, particularly in health, education, and green infrastructure (such as climate adaptation and a "just transition" for workers affected by technological or environmental shifts).
  • NZ First: Focuses on regional development and backing local industries, including proposing a corporate tax cut (down to 20%) for small-to-medium businesses with a turnover under $30 million to encourage domestic hiring and expansion.

2. Wages and Incomes

  • National & ACT: Emphasize keeping personal taxes low and maintaining flexibility for businesses to determine wage structures without heavy-handed government mandates. ACT has campaigned on a freeze to the adult minimum wage for three years alongside a lower training wage for under-20s.
  • Labour, Greens, & NZ First: Centre their wage policies on lifting the baseline for low-income earners.
    • Labour and union-aligned advocates are campaigning heavily around cost-of-living relief, pay equity provisions, and promoting the Living Wage.
    • NZ First has pushed for measures to ease financial strain on small-to-medium enterprises so they can sustainably pass on wage increases.

3. Retraining and Workforce Development

  • Industry & Green Transitions: Left-leaning parties (Labour and the Greens) advocate for formal "just transition" frameworks, ensuring workers displaced by automation, AI, or climate policies have guaranteed access to ongoing vocational education, targeted retraining programs, and income protection.
  • Sector-Specific Training: Major focus areas include funding and rebuilding the workforce pipelines in critical public sectors like healthcare (e.g., targeted training positions and retention schemes for nurses, mental health professionals, and sonographers).

4. Employment Rights and Industrial Relations

This is one of the sharpest ideological divides of the 2026 election, hinging largely on recent legislative settings (such as the Employment Relations Amendment Act):

  • National & ACT (Centre-Right): Support the current flexible employment framework. This includes maintaining gateway tests for contractor versus employee status, individual bargaining agreements, and strict welfare-to-work obligations.
  • Labour & The Workers' Bloc (E tū and other unions): Have committed to rolling back recent changes to employment law. Their platform includes:
    • Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs): Reintroducing sector-wide collective bargaining.
    • Personal Grievances & Health and Safety: Restoring prior personal grievance protections and reversing recent amendments to health and safety legislation to strengthen worker protections.
    • Union Access: Strengthening collective organizing rights, such as supporting default union membership arrangements (opt-out rather than opt-in) for new starters.

Are you interested in how these parties' tax or welfare policies specifically intersect with these employment changes?

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Google AI Mode · No location

For the 2026 New Zealand general election: What are parties offering on job creation, wages, retraining and employment rights?

For the 2026 New Zealand general election (held on 7 November 2026), employment, job creation, and economic productivity have become central campaign themes amid a tighter economic climate and rising unemployment.

Political parties have outlined distinct approaches to job creation, workforce upskilling, wage growth, and employment standards. Overview of major party positions:

  • New Zealand Labour Party

  • Job Creation & Economy: Labour has campaigned on initiatives to stimulate infrastructure and construction through targeted investment packages (such as their "get New Zealand building" and regional development platforms) alongside establishing funding vehicles like the New Zealand Future Fund to back local enterprise.

  • Wages & Employment Rights: Labour's policy platform emphasizes restoring and strengthening pay equity legislation, including a promised immediate pay increase targeted at care and support workers. They also focus on reversing previous rollbacks to employment protections.

  • Retraining & Skills: Labour proposes expanding the Apprenticeship Boost scheme to encourage more young New Zealanders and trainees into the trades.

  • New Zealand National Party

  • Job Creation & Economy: National centers its employment and economic strategy on business confidence, cutting red tape for small-to-medium enterprises, and boosting private sector growth. Their focus is on incentivizing business investment rather than direct state-led job creation.

  • Wages & Employment Rights: National focuses on economic settings designed to drive overall productivity and sustainable real wage growth through tax relief and business competitiveness, while maintaining flexible labor market frameworks.

  • Retraining & Skills: National’s approach aligns industry-backed skills training and vocational education reform closely with regional labor market shortages.

  • Green Party

  • Job Creation & Economy: The Greens advocate for green-collar job creation, prioritizing transition roles in renewable energy infrastructure, climate adaptation, and conservation work.

  • Wages & Employment Rights: The party campaigns strongly for a higher minimum wage tied to the living wage, alongside stronger collective bargaining rights and protections for contractors and gig-economy workers.

  • Retraining & Skills: Their policy promotes subsidized education, universal access to vocational retraining, and targeted funding for workers transitioning away from high-emissions industries.

  • ACT New Zealand

  • Job Creation & Economy: ACT emphasizes deregulation, tax reduction, and removing compliance costs on employers to make it easier for businesses to hire and expand.

  • Wages & Employment Rights: ACT favors greater flexibility in employment law, arguing that overly rigid employment regulations and standard-setting can deter hiring. They support streamlined labor market rules to boost enterprise agility.

  • Retraining & Skills: ACT favors market-led training initiatives and choice in tertiary and vocational education over centralized polytechnic management.

  • New Zealand First

  • Job Creation & Economy: NZ First centers job creation on domestic manufacturing, primary industries, forestry, and regional infrastructure projects, emphasizing local workforce protection.

  • Wages & Employment Rights: They focus on protecting New Zealand workers against displacement and supporting domestic wage stability.

  • Retraining & Skills: NZ First advocates for stronger support for traditional trades, apprenticeships, and localized workforce training to fill domestic skill gaps.

For detailed, side-by-side policy comparisons from the campaign trail, you can explore the interactive guides onPolicy.nz.

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AI Overviews · No location

For the 2026 New Zealand general election: What are parties offering on job creation, wages, retraining and employment rights?

AI Overview

For the 2026 New Zealand general election , political parties are drawing a sharp contrast between the employer-friendly, market-driven policies of the current coalition government and the employee-protection and wage-uplift mandates of the opposition.

1. Job Creation

  • National Party: Focuses on general economic growth driven by the private sector. Their Budget 2026 plan aims to create 220,000 jobs over the next four years by avoiding new taxes, cutting regulatory red tape, and investing in infrastructure.

  • Labour Party: Prioritizes targeted public investment and sector-specific strategies. A key policy is their Graduate Nurse Job Guarantee , which ensures employment for all New Zealand-trained nursing graduates.

  • ACT Party: Advocates for deregulation and a smaller public service. ACT believes that reducing government spending and boosting private sector confidence is the most efficient way to generate high-value jobs.

  • Green Party & Te Pāti Māori: Push for green and community-focused jobs. The Greens advocate for a "job guarantee" programme centered heavily around ecosystem regeneration and conservation work.

2. Wages

  • Labour Party: Centering their campaign on wages and the cost of living, Labour has promised an immediate $4-an-hour pay rise for approximately 65,000 care and support workers from 1 January 2027. They also propose a Pay Transparency Bill requiring businesses with over 150 employees to list pay ranges on advertisements and report gender pay gaps.

  • Green Party: Asserts that care and support workers are underpaid by $7 to $10 an hour. They have pledged $4.5 billion over four years to deliver a 30% wage increase to these workers. The Greens also support raising the National Minimum Wage to the Living Wage rate (currently $29.90/hr).

  • National Party: Argues that disciplined economic management and keeping taxes low will organically allow wages to grow faster than inflation. They oppose Labour's broad spending plans, stating they would fuel inflation and erode wage gains.

  • ACT Party: Proposes to freeze the adult minimum wage for three years (locking it at the current $23.95/hr), arguing that wage increases must align strictly with productivity gains.

3. Retraining & Training Incentives

  • Labour Party: Pledges to expand the Apprenticeship Boost scheme to encourage vocational pathways and will fund Māori-led skills training to reduce regional unemployment.

  • ACT Party: Wants to introduce a new Training Wage set at 60% of the adult minimum wage ($14.37/hr) for workers under 20 during their first 12 months of employment to lower the barrier for businesses taking on trainees.

  • National Party: Focuses on retaining Kiwi talent by introducing the Back Pocket Boost for Graduates. This lowers compulsory student loan deductions to 10% for New Zealand-based workers while tightening rules on those who move overseas without paying their debt.

4. Employment Rights & Pay Equity

  • The Opposition (Labour, Greens, Te Pāti Māori): All three parties have vowed to restore the pre-2025 pay equity regime within their first 100 days in office. They intend to reverse the current coalition’s legislative changes, allowing historical undervaluation claims (particularly in female-dominated sectors) to proceed immediately. Labour also strongly opposes recent worker restrictions in the Employment Relations Act.

  • The Coalition Government (National, ACT, NZ First): Stands by their recent legislative overhauls, which included repealing Fair Pay Agreements and restricting personal grievance protections for high-income earners. They argue these changes create a more flexible, balanced, and confident hiring environment for businesses. Additionally, ACT wants to make union fee payroll deductions strictly voluntary for employees.

If you want to look closer at these platforms, tell me if you would like to:

  • Compare the specific tax cuts or thresholds proposed by the parties.

  • Explore changes to KiwiSaver or Parental Leave policies.

  • Look at how each party plans to fund these employment policies.

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