Xero data: New Zealand small business jobs grow 2.5% year-on-year in September quarter

Wellington – 29 October 2026:Xero, the global small business platform, today released its latest Xero Small Business Insights (XSBI) data, showing jobs at Kiwi small businesses grew 2.5% year-on-year (y/y) in the September quarter, more than double the 1.0% growth recorded in the June quarter.

Small business sales also rose 5.6% year-on-year in the September quarter, down from 9.1% driven by strong agriculture activity in the June quarter.

While growth has eased following June's exceptionally strong result, it remains close to the historical average of 6.2% y/y.

Bridget Snelling, Country Manager – Aotearoa New Zealand at Xero, said this sales result was encouraging to see and is benefiting the wider community - especially via jobs growth.

“We’ve recorded small business employment up 2.5% year-on-year in the September quarter, which is more than double the 1.0% growth recorded in the June quarter and slightly above the historical average of 2.3%,” says Snelling.

“Taking on staff is a significant commitment for a small business, so the lift in jobs growth is encouraging.”

“It suggests improvements in sales earlier in the year are beginning to translate into hiring, although that won’t be the experience of every business.”

Real estate services led employment growth (+7.0% y/y) along with administrative services (+6.4% y/y). Professional services (+3.9%) and construction (+2.8%) also recorded jobs growth above the national average. Hospitality remained an exception, with employment down 1.4% on a year earlier.

“Hospitality continues to employ fewer people than a year ago, even as other industries are expanding,” Snelling said. “With household budgets still under pressure, businesses that depend on customers’ discretionary spending may have less capacity to take on additional staff.”

New Zealand leads sales growth on international stage

New Zealand led the five XSBI-tracked countries on sales growth in September, at 5.6% year-on-year, ahead of Australia (4.3%), the UK (3.9%), the US (2.5%) and Canada (0.5%).

Construction recorded the strongest sales growth (+7.0% y/y), followed by administrative services (+6.8%) and healthcare (+6.0%).

Agriculture sales growth eased to 4.7% from 14.3% in the June quarter, but this pullback simply reflects this sector has been performing well for so long, rather than being a concerning trend. . Hospitality recorded the smallest sales increase (+3.4%).

The regional picture was also mixed. Canterbury led employment growth (+5.4% y/y), followed by Waikato (+3.2%), while Northland (-0.5%) and Marlborough, Nelson & Tasman (-0.3%) recorded fewer small business jobs than a year ago.

Wage growth remained subdued at 1.3% y/y, well below its historical average of 3.5%. Average time to be paid increased by 0.3 days to 25.4 days, while average late payment times rose by 0.9 days to 5.2 days.

The increase suggests cash flow pressure may be rising, although New Zealand continues to have the shortest late payment times among the five countries tracked by XSBI.

“It’s good to see small businesses adding jobs, but sustained hiring will depend on sales holding up and customers paying them promptly,” Snelling said. “Longer payment times can make it harder to plan and invest, particularly when operating costs are still elevated.”

ENDS

Media Contact

Xero New Zealand | Jess Brophy | +61 431 268 549 | jess.brophy@xero.com

About Xero

Xero is a global small business platform and a trusted financial operating system for the AI era. Xero’s purpose is to make life better for people in small business, their advisors, and communities around the world. By unifying core financial operations (including accounting, payroll and payments) underpinned by insights and a robust ecosystem into autonomous workflows, we empower 5 million small businesses and accountants and bookkeepers across 180+ countries to move from managing records to making informed decisions. For further information, please visit xero.com.