While RNZ asks how much tax influencers actually pay, here's what nobody's asking: how much are they actually earning, and is it growing?

The information media and telecommunications sector. which includes everyone from social media managers to IT specialists to radio broadcasters. paid out $68.6 million in wages in 2024. On paper, that's 20.6% more than the $56.9 million workers in this sector earned in 2020. (Source: Stats NZ (LEED), earnings-by-industry)

But here's where the story gets interesting. These are nominal figures. They don't account for the 20 to 25% inflation New Zealand has experienced since 2019. When you adjust for that, the growth disappears.

In 2020, as COVID hit and New Zealand went into lockdown, the sector paid $56.9 million. By 2021, it had climbed to $59.8 million. Then 2022: $63.4 million. The big jump came in 2023, when wages hit $68.8 million. But in 2024? They dropped slightly to $68.6 million.

That 2023 peak matters. It suggests that real wage growth in this sector effectively stopped two years ago. The 2024 figure is lower in nominal terms, which means after inflation, workers in information media and telecommunications are likely earning less buying power than they were in 2023.

This is the sector that's supposed to be growing. Tech jobs. Digital media. The economy of the future. Yet wage growth has flatlined at precisely the moment inflation has made everything from rent to groceries significantly more expensive.

For context, between 2020 and 2023, wages in this sector grew by 20.9%. That sounds strong until you remember inflation over the same period was roughly the same. Workers weren't getting ahead. They were treading water. And now, with the 2024 dip, some are going backwards.

So when we ask how much tax influencers pay, maybe we should also ask: how much are they actually making after the cost of living is factored in? Because the aggregate data suggests that even in a supposedly high-growth sector, real earnings gains have stalled.

The influencer economy, the tech boom, the digital revolution. they're all still here. But the wage story behind them isn't as shiny as the nominal numbers suggest. Growth stopped in 2023. What happens next will depend on whether inflation keeps falling, or whether this sector's workers face another year of wages that look bigger on paper but buy less in real life.