Labour Market Reports - Archive
Employment & unemployment At a Glance
This section contains archived information that has been retained for reference purposes. To view current reports, please go to the Labour Market Information section.
Published: 13 August 2007
Description
This report informs you about the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) results for the June 2007 quarter. The HLFS was released by Statistics New Zealand on 9 August 2007.
Link to full report
Employment and Unemployment HTML | PDF [52 KB, 5 pages]
Summary
The number of people employed rose by 14,000 to reach a record high of 2,158,000 in the June 2007 quarter.
Employment growth was strong at 0.7% in the June 2007 quarter which drove annual employment growth of 1.5% over the year.
The unemployment rate fell from 3.7% to an equal record low of 3.6% in the June 2007 quarter. The unemployment rate has now remained below 4.0% for three years.
New Zealand has the 5th lowest unemployment rate among 27 OECD nations with comparable data, behind Norway, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Denmark. The average unemployment rate across the whole OECD is 5.4%.
Long description for Labour Market Summary
The working-age population grew by 0.2% to 3,255,000 in the June 2007 quarter while the labour force increased by 0.5% to 2,239,000.
The increase in the labour force outstripped the increase in the working-age population in the June 2007 quarter causing the labour force participation rate to increase from 68.6% to 68.8%, the highest rate ever recorded in the HLFS.
The female labour force participation rate rebounded from falls in the second half of 2006 to increase to a record high 62.2% in the June 2007 quarter.
Part-time employment (fewer than 30 hours a week) increased strongly by 1.8% over the June 2007 quarter while full-time employment rose by a more modest 0.4%.
The unemployment rate for Maori fell to 7.6% for the year to June 2007. This is the lowest rate recorded since the HLFS began in 1986. At the same time, Maori participation increased to 67.6%, the highest rate ever recorded.
Related information
Household Labour Force Survey data from Statistics New Zealand [external link]
Quick facts about the labour market
Future updates
This is a regular report – the next update is due in November 2007. Reports from previous periods can be found in archive
Author or contact details
For further information please contact the Labour Market Analysis team