As reported by RNZ, the Deloitte Global 2026 Gen Z and Millennial Survey reveals NZ Gen Z and millennial financial stress is among the most acute in the developed world. Around 65 percent of New Zealanders born between 1981 and 2012 have delayed major life decisions because of their financial situation, compared to around 50 percent globally. The survey covered more than 22,500 respondents in 44 countries, including 501 in New Zealand, and is now in its 15th year. Deloitte NZ human capital partner Lauren Foster told RNZ the trend has been building consistently across the past three annual surveys.
Key Insights
- 65% of NZ Gen Z and Millennials have delayed major life decisions due to finances, versus 50% globally
- The trend has been consistent across the past three annual Deloitte surveys
- Cost of living is the top concern for both groups: 56% of Gen Z and 46% of Millennials
- Housing affordability has impacted career decisions for 72% of NZ Gen Z and 70% of NZ Millennials
- Comparable UK figures: 59% of Gen Z and 55% of Millennials affected by housing on career decisions
- The top end of Gen Z is now around 31 years old and struggling to save
- Life decisions delayed include buying a home, starting a family, and career location choices
- Many are choosing to look for jobs in the regions or stay at home longer to save
- NZ Gen Z is behind Australia and the UK on AI adoption in the workforce
- NZ businesses tend to lag with frontier technologies, giving less AI opportunity to younger workers
- Gen Z showing early signs of AI pushback: university students want to learn skills properly, not rely on AI for answers
- NZ young people score highly on sustainability awareness, expressing concern about AI’s water usage and environmental impact
- Survey covered 22,500+ respondents across 44 countries, including 501 in New Zealand
Our Thoughts
NZ Gen Z millennial financial stress is not a new story, but the Deloitte data gives it a precision and international context that is hard to dismiss. When 65 percent of New Zealanders under 45 are delaying major life decisions because of their finances, and when that figure is 15 percentage points above the global average, it tells you something specific about the New Zealand economic environment rather than simply reflecting a global generational trend. This is a local problem with local causes, and it has been getting worse, not better, for at least three consecutive years.
The housing data is the sharpest edge of this story. Seventy-two percent of NZ Gen Z say housing affordability has affected their career decisions. That is an extraordinary figure. It means that the majority of New Zealanders aged roughly 18 to 31 are making choices about where to work, whether to stay close to family, and what kind of career to pursue, based not on professional ambition or personal preference, but on the geography of affordable housing. New Zealand’s long-standing attachment to property as the primary wealth-building vehicle has created a feedback loop that younger generations are now trapped inside: house prices make it impossible to save, which makes it impossible to buy, which drives people toward regional centres or away from careers they actually want.
For business owners and employers, this data has a direct operational implication. If your workforce skews toward Gen Z or Millennial employees, a meaningful proportion of them are living with significant financial stress that does not stop at the front door when they arrive for work. Financial stress affects concentration, decision-making, and discretionary effort. It drives job-hopping as people chase marginal salary increases that might tip the savings equation. And it makes retention harder in a market where younger workers feel they have little to lose by moving on. Understanding this context is not about becoming a social welfare provider. It is about understanding what is driving behaviour in your team.
The AI finding is one that deserves more attention than it typically gets in coverage of this report. NZ Gen Z is behind Australian and British counterparts in AI adoption at work, and Foster attributes this partly to NZ businesses lagging with frontier technologies. This connects directly to the Employment Hero AI adoption data released earlier this month: New Zealand as a whole has lower workplace AI adoption than peer countries, and that gap is being felt by younger workers who have fewer opportunities to build AI competency on the job. The irony is that Gen Z, often assumed to be the most AI-native generation, may actually emerge from the New Zealand workforce less AI-capable than their international peers simply because the workplaces they enter are not yet ready to integrate these tools.
The pushback against AI among some Gen Z university students is a nuance worth holding onto. The desire to learn skills properly rather than outsource thinking to AI is not technophobia. It is a considered position about what genuine competence looks like and what long-term career resilience requires. Combined with the sustainability concerns around AI’s environmental footprint, it suggests that the next generation of workers will have more sophisticated and sometimes more demanding expectations around how and why AI is used in their workplaces, not just whether it is available.
NZ Gen Z millennial financial stress is ultimately a story about a generation doing the maths and not liking the answer. The numbers around housing, cost of living, and savings tell a coherent story: for a significant majority of younger New Zealanders, the traditional financial milestones of home ownership, family formation, and career progression have moved out of reach, not because of personal failure, but because the structural economics of New Zealand no longer support those outcomes at the income levels available to most young workers. For employers who want to attract, retain, and get the best from this generation, understanding that context is the starting point for everything else.
Our Questions for You
- Seventy-two percent of NZ Gen Z say housing affordability has affected their career decisions. As an employer, have you seen evidence of this in your own hiring and retention experience, and does it change how you think about salary, location flexibility, or benefits?
- NZ Gen Z is behind its Australian and British counterparts in AI workplace adoption, partly because NZ businesses lag in adopting frontier technologies. What would it take for your business to close that gap, and is there a commercial case for doing so beyond simply keeping up with international peers?
- Some Gen Z university students are pushing back against AI, wanting to develop genuine skills rather than rely on AI-generated answers. As someone who hires or manages younger workers, do you see this as a healthy instinct to preserve or an obstacle to productivity that needs to be managed?
