The Prime Minister will join colleagues in Wellington at an event ahead of tomorrow's increases to the minimum wage and benefits. 

The minimum wage will increase 6 per cent from the start of April, a move unions welcomed but some businesses have raised warnings about. 

Student allowance and living costs payments will increase by $25 per adult per week. 

The PM's event comes as the Government faces sustained pressure from National over living costs. 

Some of the April 1 changes were highlighted in February. 

Social welfare benefits and payments will increase due to Work and Income's annual general adjustment. 

Ardern said half-priced public transport would start for three months. The Winter Energy Payment starting on May 1 should cover one million people, she added. 

Murat Üngör, University of Otago senior lecturer in economics, said inflation was still rising, with domestic and global pressures meaning it was likely to keep rising for some time. 

"Those minimum wage gains, along with simultaneous increases to other benefits and superannuation payments, are already eroding," Üngör wrote in The Conversation today. 

"Given all this, perhaps the better question is whether minimum-wage policies reduce poverty overall. But again, the research has been contradictory." 

Üngör added: "It's clear low-income households will continue to struggle to keep pace with the rising cost of living." 

Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood announced the increases in February. 

He said the minimum wage would rise $1.20 an hour to $21.20 and the starting-out and training minimum wage would increase from $16 to $16.96. 

Wood will join the PM and Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni at the event early this afternoon. 

BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope previously said employers - some dealing with large revenue falls due to Covid restrictions - had little time to prepare for the change. 

National Party leader Christopher Luxon has called on the Government to adjust tax brackets to match inflation.