How much are you earning relative to your own generation? The median wage is a blunt instrument - it’s $1273 per week - because it includes everyone from school leavers, to business power-players. Tiana Thorpe has crunched the numbers so you can check what you earn - compared to your peers.

Life begins at 40, and so do your best earning years - but bask in those good times while they last, mid-lifers.

It’s likely you’ll be back to wage-rage by your 50s, with Statistics New Zealand figures showing Kiwis’ best earning years peak in their mid to late 40s then start to decline.

The data collected by Stats NZ has been sorted into age brackets between 15 and 65+ to show Kiwis’ average gross earnings before tax.

Figures for 2023 showed those aged between 45-49 have the highest median income in the country, averaging $1733 weekly.

But while a slice of the oft-forgotten Gen X cohort enjoy a rare moment of glory, the newest generation of workers have been pushed to the bottom of the table.

Unsurprisingly, our youngest members of the workforce - those aged 15 to 19 - are earning the least, with average weekly pay of $544, the figures showed.

It gets better, kids - the jump in income to the next age group, 20- to 24-year-olds, is the biggest increase between age brackets.

Those in their early 20s are earning $972 a week on average - a $428 increase on the teenage workers.

Among 25- to-29-year-olds the average increases further to $1139.50 per week.

And thirty-somethings are taking home an average weekly income of $1563, with 35– to 39-year-olds earning $1646.

That’s a nudge ahead of 40- to 44-year-olds on $1644, but it also comes at a time when many are trying to get into the long overinflated New Zealand residential property market - so sock that extra $2 away, team late 30s.

The slight early-40s salary dip was a primer for the years to come when, after a second-half lift, weekly salaries begin to drop in your 50s, according to the figures.

Kiwis in their 50s are earning an average of $1598 per week, a number that falls again to an average of $1359.50 for over-60s.

However, those aged between 60 and 64 would be happy to hear they had the highest increase in salary between 2022 and 2023, with a pay increase of $137.

Meanwhile, retirees only earned an average of $1215 each week, likely reflecting that most have left the workforce.

But while wages decreased for people in their 60s, they’re still higher than for those in their 20s and 30s, Strategic Pays data and analytics manager Natasha Stone said.

“More than the other side of the age bracket, it’s definitely younger people that have age as the biggest impact on their salary.”

This was due to a lack of experience in the workforce, even despite having qualifications, she said.

There were other factors apart from age that could contribute to a different wage - for example gender and ethnicity.

There’s little or no gender pay gap for 15- to 19-year-olds as most workers of that age are on the minimum wage, according to the Ministry for Women. But a spokesperson told the Herald that a pay gap emerges and increases as women get older. By the time they are in the 55-59 age bracket, the gender pay gap is at its widest at 16.7%

Many migrants in New Zealand also face pay disparity, especially if their overseas experience isn’t recognised or considered in New Zealand, Migrant Careers Support Trust founder and chairman Garry Gupta told the Herald.

“Even an experienced migrant who has been in New Zealand for years and has been working here would still get maybe 70% of the salary a Kiwi would get,” he said.

He advised those on unfair salaries to stand up for themselves.

- Additional reporting by Cherie Howie

- NZ Herald