Regional labour market updates show historic highs

11 May 2007

Numbers of people in paid work in New Zealand have reached historic highs, according to the latest regional labour market figures released today, Department of Labour Deputy Secretary for Work Directions Monique Dawson said.

“New Zealand’s labour market continues to show growth. Employment levels for the March 2007 quarter grew by more than predicted and are the highest levels we have seen for about 20 years.

“In most regions we are seeing more people becoming available for work and transitioning straight into jobs.

“We can tell that they are going into jobs because employment is rising against a backdrop of stable low regional unemployment.

“This information comes from the latest Department of Labour/Ministry of Social Development Quarterly Regional Labour Market Reports, which provide a single point of reference for a range of region-specific information.

“The reports show particularly strong growth in employment in the Bay of Plenty (up 15.3%) and Waikato (up 10.6%).

“The largest rise in employment rates was in Taranaki from 64.4% in the year to March 2006 to 66.7%, up 2.3 percentage points.

“Unemployment remains low with large falls in unemployment rates in Waikato (from 4.2% in the year to March 2006 to 3.3% in the year to March 2007) and Otago (from 3.8% in the year to March 2006 to 3.2% in the year to March 2007) taking them to well below the national rate (3.8%). Northland’s unemployment (declining from 5.4% to 4.7%) has also shown a considerable fall.

“The lowest unemployment rate in the year to March 2007 was 2.8% in Southland.”

The Quarterly Regional Labour Market Reports are developed by the Department of Labour and the Ministry of Social Development with information from Statistics New Zealand.

They draw on official statistics from the Department of Labour’s Job Vacancy Monitor, Ministry of Social Development beneficiary records and Statistics New Zealand’s Household Labour Force Survey.

They convey key labour market information on 12 regions of New Zealand. They include annual trends in labour force participation, employment, unemployment, job vacancy trends and benefit figures.

The reports are available at: http://dol.govt.nz/lmr/regional/joint/

ENDS