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Story: Income and wealth distribution

Factory workers, 1940s

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Factory workers, 1940s

Workers assemble radios at the Philips factory in Wellington. By the 1940s, partly because of union activity and government protection, it is likely that wage-earners such as these were receiving a higher proportion of the factory income.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, National Publicity Studios Collection

Reference: 1/2-033904-F

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Brian Easton, Income and wealth distribution – Factor income, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/23794/factory-workers-1940s (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Brian Easton, published 15 April 2010.