Full-time work in New Zealand is generally defined as 30 to 40 hours per week, with a standard 40-hour, Monday-to-Friday schedule being the most common. While there is no strict legal definition for full-time, it is usually based on 30+ hours, often structured as 8 hours per day, and is specified within an employment agreement.
Generally, full-time is working 30 hours or more every week and part-time is anything under 30 hours a week. For example, Jamie works 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday. They are full-time.
IRS / Affordable Care Act (ACA): Working 30 or more hours per week (or 130 hours per month) is considered full-time for health insurance purposes. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS): For surveys and reports, full-time usually means 35 or more hours per week.
Most full-time employees in New Zealand work between 38 to 40 hours a week. Based on these figures, there are around 1,976 to 2,080 working hours in a year. Permanent employees also need to factor in PTO, so it's likely that their total annual working hours will be slightly less.
Of course, NZ wages vary by industry and job type. However, the median income in New Zealand is just under NZ$27 per hour as of mid-2021 (NZD$56,160 per annum based on a 40-hour week).
Average Salary and Median Income in New Zealand
The average salary in New Zealand is roughly $70,000 per year.
$50 an hour jobs
Part time – usually means working fewer than 30 hours per week. Full time – working more than 30 hours per week, usually 35 to 40 hours. Casual – no guaranteed hours of work or continuous employment.
Short answer: Full-time employment is usually considered between 30-40 hours a week, while part-time employment is usually less than 30 hours a week. Long answer: The answer is not quite as simple as it sounds. Here's why.
Countries with the lowest working hours
More often than not, a full time working week is anything from 35 hours — with some employers setting theirs at 35, and others at 40. It's also not uncommon for employers to try to meet somewhere in the middle and fix their full time week at 37.5 hours, but this may prove a little harder to calculate.
However, definitions can vary: some employers count 37.5 hours as full-time, factoring in 30-minute daily unpaid lunch breaks, while others may define full-time as 35 hours a week, including an hour-long lunch break each day.
Fewer benefits: While some companies offer benefits for part-timers, it's not as common as for full-time positions. Less job security: They may be seen as more expendable since employers don't have to make as big an investment in them. Schedule stress: Part-time workers may have less consistency with working hours.
'Permanent' means the employee has guaranteed work and their job does not have an end date. A person can have permanent full-time employment or permanent part-time employment. Working full-time or part-time refers to the number of hours they work each week (part-time is generally less than 30 hours a week).
A: The definitions of full-time and part-time vary depending on law and policy. Most employers determine full-time status based on business needs and typically consider an employee to be full-time if they work anywhere from 32 to 40 or more hours per week.
Yes, 35 hours is generally considered full-time in the U.S. by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) (35+ hours), but it varies by employer and regulations, with many companies using 40 hours as a standard and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) defining it as 30+ hours for health coverage. While the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) doesn't define it, it sets overtime for non-exempt workers over 40 hours, and some jobs, especially government roles, budget for 35 or 37.5 hours as full-time.
Unless otherwise specified, full-time employment is considered to be at least 30 hours of work per week for the purpose of all work policies.
Yes, in some circumstances it is legal under employment law, but that line becomes less clear in health and safety.
The lowest paid jobs in New Zealand, relative to qualifications and experience, are all in the services sector, with hotel receptionists, waiters/waitresses and bar staff regularly being rated right at the bottom of the scale. Salary guide as at April 2022 (source: Trademe).
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