RNZ reports households are putting spending on ice as power and rates bills surge. Meanwhile, self-employed New Zealanders collectively earned $416.5 million in 2024, a record high that tells a very different story about who's still making money in this economy. (Source: Stats NZ, earnings-by-industry)

The contrast is stark. While families tighten belts and delay purchases, the self-employment sector just posted its biggest earnings year on record. That's $73 million more than self-employed Kiwis made in 2020, when the economy was supposedly in crisis mode.

Here's the tension: self-employment income has grown 21% since 2020. Four years of consecutive growth, even as inflation ravaged household budgets and interest rates climbed to 5.5%. The sole traders, contractors, and small business owners aren't just surviving this economy. They're thriving in it.

But zoom out and the picture gets stranger. In 2000, self-employed New Zealanders earned $196 million. By 2024, that figure had more than doubled to $416 million. That's 112% growth over 24 years, even after adjusting the figures aren't inflation-adjusted, the trajectory is relentless: up, up, up.

So why are households freezing spending while self-employment earnings soar? Two economies are running in parallel. One where wages feel static, bills feel crushing, and discretionary spending vanishes. Another where flexibility, contract rates, and the ability to adjust pricing faster than PAYE salaries keeps money flowing.

The gap widened sharply after COVID. From 2020 to 2024, self-employment income jumped $72 million. That's an average increase of $18 million per year, every year, for four straight years. Compare that to the previous four years (2016-2020), when self-employment income grew just $33 million total.

This isn't about self-employed people being greedy. It's about structural shifts. When households cut spending, they're often cutting the big stuff: renovations, new cars, holidays. But they still need accountants, plumbers, graphic designers, and tradespeople. The self-employed occupy the parts of the economy that don't disappear when times get tight.

The irony: as unions fight changes to employment law, self-employment keeps growing. More Kiwis are opting out of traditional employment altogether, chasing the income growth that PAYE roles can't match right now.

But here's the question nobody's asking: if self-employment income keeps climbing while household spending freezes, who exactly is paying for all this work? Someone is. And the mismatch between what families can afford and what contractors are earning suggests the money is concentrating somewhere specific. Probably not in the households putting their spending on ice.