Statistics New Zealand figures for the three months ended September showed settlements for healthcare and support workers helped push annual private sector wage inflation on the Labour Cost Index to a five-year high of 1.9%.
New Government policies - including lower migration, increases in the minimum wage and revised industrial relations policies - all pointed one way for wage growth, although detail was still awaited, she said.
Wages already had a tailwind. The unemployment rate was now well below 5%, firms were profitable, they were having difficulty finding staff and Consumer Price Index inflation was well off its lows.
''On the other hand, secular forces such as technology displacing labour have not gone away and some measures of labour demand have softened.''
Overall labour income growth was strong, despite a few bumps in the employment picture and still-modest annual wage growth, Ms Zollner said.
Total gross earnings were up 1.5% from June and 5.3% annually in September.
Recent spending data had been subdued despite this and also despite high surveyed consumer confidence.
Income growth should be strong but uncertainty might be offsetting, she said.
''It's tough for retailers but with household debt at a record high relative to incomes, a little prudence may not be a bad thing in the bigger picture.''
ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said further pay equity increases, pending increases in the minimum wage and the still-tight labour market were expected to see annual LCI wage inflation gradually firm over the next few years.
But, for now at least, there are few signs of generalised wage increases emerging into the wider labour market, where wage inflation remains contained.
The prospect of LCI wage inflation moving above the 2% inflation target mid-point should dispel the notion of official rate cuts.
Given the considerable uncertainties on the outlook, and a still-fluid government and monetary policy backdrop, the Reserve Bank was expected to sit tight for a while yet, he said.
Council of Trade Unions president Richard Wagstaff called on the Government and industry leaders to open up conversations about new ways of deciding on how wages might benefit working people.
Labour market statistics showed wages would have fallen further if not for the equal pay settlement.
''The current system for determining pay is stuck on a setting which might deliver for chief executives and shareholders, but not for the average working person in New Zealand. The evidence has shown us our system of individual bargaining, casualised work and underemployment all drives down the return working people get on the effort they put in.''
It was time to move away from the old mindset of employers setting wages unilaterally, he said.
Industry-wide agreements and better access to collective bargaining would supercharge wage growth to catch up to rising living costs.
The new Government had indicated implementing new, broader wage setting mechanisms was a priority for its first term, Mr Wagstaff said.
''Unions are ready for more holistic conversations about wages for working people that gives them a fair go at determining what their jobs are worth.''
