One in four New Zealanders over the age of 15 has a disability.
The unemployment rate for disabled people is much higher than non-disabled people (although this has been trending down over the past three years).
Disabled people earn less, on average, than non-disabled people.
Disabled women have a pay gap of 10.0% when compared to all men, but have a negative gap of -1.6% when compared to disabled men.
To improve their outcomes, disabled people need better employment opportunities. Disabled women need fairer recruitment and remuneration policies within their organisations.
Whaikaha – Ministry of Disabled People provide a range of resources for employers and business owners wishing to employ disabled people, or wishing to make their workplaces more accommodating for disabled employees.
You can find more information about disabled people in New Zealand from the Stats NZ’s Labour Market Statistics for the June 2026.
The figures below are survey results taken from these Labour Market statistics. Less than 3% of the New Zealand labour market are disabled, so these statistics are prone to sampling error and should be taken as estimates only.
Year | Disabled | Non-disabled | Total | |||
Women | Men | Women | Men | Women | Men | |
2017 | $20.28 | $22.23 | $23.02 | $25.57 | $23.02 | $25.53 |
2018 | $22.38 | $25.00 | $23.87 | $26.37 | $23.78 | $26.31 |
2019 | $22.19 | $24.98 | $24.50 | $27.00 | $24.50 | $27.00 |
2020 | $23.90 | $26.53 | $25.62 | $28.29 | $25.57 | $28.25 |
2021 | $23.50 | $28.00 | $26.42 | $29.00 | $26.37 | $29.00 |
2022 | $25.00 | $26.00 | $28.00 | $30.92 | $28.00 | $30.85 |
2023 | $27.00 | $28.77 | $30.21 | $33.00 | $30.14 | $33.00 |
2024 | $30.00 | $32.31 | $32.13 | $35.00 | $32.08 | $34.95 |
2025 | $30.36 | $33.59 | $34.00 | $35.80 | $33.80 | $35.66 |
2026 | $33.24 | $32.73 | $35.00 | $37.00 | $34.95 | $36.92 |