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Employment and Unemployment

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Employment and Unemployment Report [PDF, 6 pages, 158 KB]

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Employment & unemployment - at a Glance

Published: 8 May 2009

Description

This report presents Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) results for the March 2009 quarter. The HLFS was released by Statistics New Zealand on 7 May 2009.

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Summary

The New Zealand labour market has continued to weaken due to the difficult economic conditions. With real GDP falling for the past year, employment has started to follow suit, falling by 1.1% over the March 2009 quarter. The large drop in part-time employment and the small fall in usual hours worked may indicate that firms have had to start cutting staff numbers rather than reducing their hours.

Labour Market Summary

Long Description for Figure 01

While the unemployment rate for the March 2009 quarter was more positive than expected by most commentators, this was largely due to a higher than expected fall in participation. Today’s figures have some similarities with those for the March 2008 quarter, which also went against market expectations. This picture of an easing in the labour market is consistent with other surveys showing a reduction in skill shortage indicators, slowing wage growth and negative employment intentions. Despite the easing, the labour market has held up relatively well during the economic downturn. Employment is still up by 0.8% over the year, despite the economy being in recession since the beginning of 2008. The unemployment rate has risen to a six-year high of 5.0% but remains relatively low on an historical basis and well below the OECD average of 7.3%. New Zealand has not suffered the large increases experienced in other countries such as the United States, Ireland and Spain.