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Work in New Zealand

From gum digging in early New Zealand to the many occupations in today’s world, this topic covers Labour Day, the 40 hour week, equal pay rights, Careers NZ, and work in New Zealand from farming to community roles and public service. SCIS no. 1822222

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Jobs in the community

Jobs in the community

Police, nurses, carpenters and teachers are examples of jobs in our community. What community jobs were there in the past, what work do we do today and into the future? Explore this and more.

Samuel Duncan Parnell

The biography of Samuel Duncan Parnell, the man who initiated the 8-hour working day.

8 hour work day

How the 8 hour working day came to New Zealand.

Dunedin Tradesmen

Dunedin Tradesmen

Five sketches of assorted tradesmen. Quantity: 1 drawing(s). Physical Description: Ink in bound album, page size 173 x 252 mm

A newspaper delivery round was one of the ways that boys earned money in the mid-20th century, when this photograph of Peter Williams on his delivery round was taken. Accompanying him is his pet po...

Created in appreciation of the hardworking team who built the awesome DigitalNZ sets functionality.

In country areas like Tāneatua in the Bay of Plenty work was scarce, and a job that fitted into a family’s routine was particularly valued. When a local company was taken to court for employing wom...

Job Advertisement

Job Advertisement

Advertisement for a hospital housekeeper from 1971.

Women worked at the Frimley Canning Factory in Hawke's Bay, canning peaches, pears, apricots, tomatoes, beans and peas, and making jams, pickles, spices and baking powder. By 1910, when this photog...

Labour Day today

Labour Day today

Cartoon referring to Labour Day.

Weekend trading poster

Anti weekend poster printed in 1976.

Two miners work a large drill into an underground rock face.

Cartoon referring to fruit pickers in New Zealand.

Dressmakers and their work

Dressmakers and their work

Pacific career expo draws young people and families

Pacific career expo draws young people and families

Youth leaders on Auckland's North Shore worried about job prospects for young people in their community held a career expo.

Women’s war work

Newspaper article about suitable jobs for women.

Equal pay for equal work

Equal pay for equal work

Brochure promoting equal pay and opportunity.

Challenging the Pātea freezing works closure

In 1982 the freezing works in the small Taranaki town of Pātea was shut down by its owners. This was just one of a long series of similar factory closures during the 1980s, which threw thousands of...

The Air Force needs Men!

The Air Force needs Men!

Advertisement inviting men to join the Air Force.

Caught! danger of loose clothing'

Caught! danger of loose clothing'

Poster printed to promote workplace safety.

Fatality while bush-felling

Engineering workshop

Engineering workshop

Photograph of an engineering workshop taken in the 1900s.

Gumdiggers at Work

Gumdiggers at Work

Group of gumdiggers digging for kauri gum, Northland. Three men in suits are watching. Photograph taken by ca. 1910s by the Northwoood Brothers of Kaitaia. Date estimated by cataloguer. Source o...

Women working in a factory during World War 2

Women working in a factory during World War 2

Unidentified women working in a (munitions?) factory during World War 2. Location unidentified. Photograph possibly taken by John Pascoe. Quantity: 1 b&w original photographic print(s). Physical ...

A day in the life of a working mother

A day in the life of a working mother

Coming home with shopping.

A group of Māori workers, possibly a shearing gang, pose on an East Coast farm in the early 20th century. From the 1880s agricultural work, including shearing, became an important source of income ...

As portrayed in Renee’s play Wednesday to Come this Labour Party pamphlet protests against the appalling conditions in some of the New Zealand relief camps during the Great Depression. In these cam...

Women packing chocolates at Atlas biscuit and confectionery company

Women packing chocolates at Atlas biscuit and confectionery company

Women packing chocolates into boxes at Atlas Biscuit and Confectionery Company, Christchurch, taken 1910 by Steffano Webb. Inscriptions: Photographer's title on negative - above image - Atlas Con ...

Getting the top job

Getting the top job

Although far more women teach than men, men are more likely to reach positions of authority. In 2006, of the 4,600 men teaching at primary level, 24% were principals, while of the 21,600 women teac...

Ian Park talks about his job as a construction blaster.

Domestic servants

Domestic servants

Pacific migrants

Pacific migrants

Tokelauans Ario Galo and Saroa Lafu arrived in Wellington in January 1963 seeking jobs, and worked initially at the Public Service boys’ hostel in Oriental Bay. Labour shortages in the 1960s and 19...

Employment New Zealand

This site provides information about the rights of employers and employees.

Christchurch earthquake job losses dole 'disaster'

Article about job losses as a result of the Christchurch earthquake.

This government organisation helps New Zealanders make informed learning and work decisions.

Statistics and graphs relating to work in New Zealand.

The gender pay gap is a high level indicator of the difference between women and men’s earnings.

Employment relations authority

The Employment Relations Authority helps to resolve employment relationship problems.

An educational tool promoting self-help for solving discomfort and injuries in the workplace.

Revealed: NZ's most dangerous job

Latest figures show cleaners, rubbish collectors, and labourers have the highest rate of injury while at work.

Information about how you can volunteer for the Department of Conservation.

Working in dairy farming

Useful information about working in the dairy farming industry.

Employment Relations Act 2000

The Employment Relations Act 2000.

Salary data & career research center (New Zealand)

Dive into the most extensive database of job salaries available.

Chooks! Pigs! Cows! cartoon

Chooks! Pigs! Cows! cartoon

Today’s office is far removed from this example from the 1940s where people were free to smoke. Today office space is either open plan or arranged in small self-contained cubicles as shown in this ...

A glum holiday maker wearing a t-shirt that reads 'Work is nigh' walks along the beach front considering the fact that he has soon to return to work after his Christmas holiday. Quantity: 1 digita...

A far cry from today’s farms, and farming technology, this photograph really reveals our humble pastoral origins. Life for our early farmers was characterised by isolation and intense physical work...

Painting the Plunket rooms

Painting the Plunket rooms

Community work has long been a valued social resource. It helps hold and bind communities together; individuals learn new skills while helping the community benefit from shared goals. Here voluntar...

Sheep at Wairakei farm settlement

Sheep at Wairakei farm settlement

This classic photograph reveals how New Zealand was largely perceived by the outside world in the 1960s—a nation of farms, rolling countryside and millions of sheep. In the decade before this photo...

Steffano Webb’s photographs explored both domestic and commercial interiors in and around a bustling Edwardian Christchurch. This remarkable photograph, the inside of the Belfast Freezing Works, re...

Nice work poster

Nice work poster

A surge in jobs after World War II meant many married women entered the workforce where previously they had been expected to remain at home. Income generated by this employment helped families purc...

Fences, decks, barbeques, and do-it-yourself (DIY) is a strong cultural trait in a New Zealand psyche based around self-reliance and self-sufficiency. Even prime ministers have been known to do a s...

Women and computers

Women and computers

By the 1970s new technology was making inroads into the manual and service jobs performed in factories and offices—as this image shows. From the first electronic calculators, to the electric typewr...

Extractive industries like coal mining impacted on both the landscape and society– particularly on the West Coast. Here you can clearly see that coal mining also meant removal of forest and large q...

Scene outside a house

Scene outside a house

For many last century the good old days weren't particularly good. Unpaid and overworked, many women at home struggled in substandard living conditions (by today’s standards) to raise, clothe and f...

Importing domestic servants

Importing domestic servants

British domestic servants arrive in Auckland on the Ruapehu in June 1925. There had been frequent calls for special schemes to bring out women who would help solve the ‘servant problem’, and at tim...

Pay equity cartoon

Pay equity cartoon

Under the heading 'She's got your number', shows a billboard featuring the New Zealand ten dollar note with the startled face of Kate Sheppard. John Key and another figure are using red paint to re...

Migrant workers 'ripped off'

Prosecutions over migrant worker exploitation are only the tip of the iceberg, according to a union leader who says Christchurch employers are getting a bad reputation.

What is the current minimum wage in New Zealand?

Give girls a go!

Female modern apprentices in New Zealand.

Pathway programme for equal opportunities

An internship programme run by a specialist employment service helps disabled, young people prepare for employment.

Shore job at sea

Peter Kingston joins the men who work the tugs on Auckland Harbour for a day’s work.

Chew Chong: A leading role in the dairy industry

A key figure in helping to develop Taranaki's dairy industry, especially in the making and refrigeration of butter.

Living the dream

An interview with Māori aerospace engineer and NASA employee Mana Vautier and his passion for space.

Pencarrow: New Zealand’s first lighthouse.

George Bennett, the first lighthouse keeper in at Pencarrow Head in New Zealand.

Sam's story: entrepreneurship and philanthropy

Sam Morgan founder of Trade Me, discusses his experiences as an entrepreneur and philanthropist.

Ready to become an ambulance officer?

Find out more about this exciting career pathway as a St John’s paramedic.

How to write a CV in 2020

A quick overview on how to write a CV, which includes a walk-through of a real example CV.

Labour Day collection

This collection from NZ On Screen brings together 20 titles that involve Kiwi working life: from economic revolutions and an industrial dispute negotiated live on air (Post Office Go Slow), to publ...

A career in cheesemaking

Miel Meyer explains why he left his job in a science laboratory to work in the family cheese factory and how he draws on his scientific background in his role as cheesemaker.

Earning pocket money

Earning pocket money

Earning pocket money doing chores indoors and outdoors over the decades

LABOUR DAY IN NEW ZEALAND

LABOUR DAY IN NEW ZEALAND

Parades, processions and floats filled the streets to celebrate Labour Day in New Zealand for the first time in 1890. This set has information and resources to help you understand more about the hi...

Miners’ hall, Rūnanga

Miners’ hall, Rūnanga

The Rūnanga Miner's Hall, emblazoned with socialist slogans, was built in 1937 to replace the original 1908 hall, which had burned down. British miners brought to New Zealand a strong tradition of ...

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