But he says the growth of KiwiSaver could go some way to correcting any imbalance.

The NZ Productivity Commission has published a working paper that compares productivity performance between Australia and New Zealand.

It found average labour productivity levels are about a third lower on this side of the Tasman. The average GDP per hour worked in Australia was $68, compared to New Zealand’s $43.

The difference was particularly noticeable in 16 industries, including mining, construction, transport and financial and insurance services.

In Australia, the highest levels of average gross value added per hour worked were in financial services and mining.

But in New Zealand’s financial and insurance services sectors, the average labour productivity is only 30% of Australia’s and skill levels are only 93%. Relative capital intensity is just 42%.

The report said it was important to look at productivity because it had a big impact on living standards.

But Hope said it was not a fair comparison because Australia had a much higher proportion of financial services staff working in investment banks and non-bank financial services providers. “Their output per capita is a hell of a lot higher.”

He said the comparison was done at a top level without any in-depth analysis of the structures of the industries.

New Zealand could improve its productivity if more investment banks opened here, he said. “It’s a function of the economy. In Australia, compulsory super has created a much greater pool of capital that drives and attracts this business. We need to catch up in that area and soft compulsion [of KiwiSaver] is going to help generate this type of activity.”