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: 17 May 2007
Description
This report informs you about the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) results for the March 2007 quarter. The HLFS was released by Statistics New Zealand on 10 May 2007. This report is produced quarterly.
Link to full report
Employment and Unemployment HTML | PDF [52 KB, 5 pages]
Summary
The number of people employed rose by 25,000 to reach a record high 2,143,000 in the March 2007 quarter.
Employment growth was very strong at 1.2% in the March 2007 quarter which drove annual employment growth to 1.7% in the year to March 2007.
While employment grew, it didn’t grow enough to fully accommodate the increased rate at which people were looking for work and as a result the unemployment rate increased slightly to 3.8%.
Even though the unemployment rate increased, it remains low by historical and international standards. This is the 11th quarter in a row that the unemployment rate has remained below 4.0%.
New Zealand has the 5th lowest unemployment rate among 27 OECD nations with comparable data, behind Norway, South Korea, Denmark and the Netherlands. The average unemployment rate across the whole OECD is 5.7%.
Long description for Labour Market Summary
The working-age population grew by 0.4% to 3,247,000 in the March 2007 quarter while the labour force increased by 1.2% to 2,227,000.
The increase in the labour force outstripped the increase in the working-age population in the March 2007 quarter causing the labour force participation rate to increase from 68.0% to 68.6%.
Female employment increased by a strong 1.8% over the March 2007 quarter while male employment rose by a more modest 0.7%.
The unemployment rate for Maori remained at 7.9% for the year to March 2007. This is the lowest rate recorded since the HLFS began in 1986.
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 August 2007. Reports from previous periods can be found in archive
Author or contact details
For further information please contact the Labour Market Analysis team