Regional Labour Market Reports - Archive
Joint MSD/DoL Quarterly Regional Labour Market Reports At a glance - December 2007
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: 7 February 2008
Description: The Joint MSD/DoL Quarterly Regional Labour Market Reports provide regularly updated labour market information at a Regional Council level. Published following the release of the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS), these reports provide timely and accurate labour market information at a regional level.
Full reports: The 12 Joint MSD/DoL Quarterly Regional Labour Market Reports can be viewed in HTML or PDF format below:
- Northland HTML | PDF 217 KB
- Auckland HTML | PDF 235 KB
- Waikato HTML | PDF 252 KB
- Bay of Plenty HTML | PDF 236 KB
- Gisborne/Hawke's Bay HTML | PDF 220 KB
- Taranaki HTML | PDF 212 KB
- Manawatu/ Wanganui HTML | PDF 228 KB
- Wellington HTML | PDF 220 KB
- Tasman/ Nelson/ Marlborough/ West Coast HTML | PDF 242 KB
- Canterbury HTML | PDF 257 KB
- Otago HTML | PDF 230 KB
- Southland HTML | PDF 216 KB
Summary
The regional reports convey key labour market information on twelve regions of New Zealand. They include annual trends in labour force participation, employment rates and unemployment rates from Statistics New Zealand’s Household Labour Force Survey, job vacancy trends from the Department of Labour’s Job Vacancy Monitor and benefit figures from the Ministry of Social Development’s beneficiary records.
Key messages to emerge from the December quarter HLFS release are:
- Regionally, the labour force participation rate grew the most in Taranaki, increasing from 67.8% in the year to December 2006 to reach 69.3% in the year to December 2007. This growth was followed by Auckland where the participation rate grew from 67.2% to reach 68.0% over the same period.
- Strong growth in employment was seen for Waikato (up 8.1% from the year to December 2006) and Bay of Plenty (up 6.0%). The largest decline was for Manawatu-Wanganui (down 4.0% from the year to December 2006), followed by Gisborne/Hawke’s Bay (down 3.4%).
- Annual average employment rates rose in eight of twelve regions compared with the year before. The largest rise in employment rate was in Wellington from 66.5% in the year to December 2006 to 68.3% in the year to December 2007.
- All but one region had unemployment rates at or below 4.4% on an annual average basis. The unemployment rate in Manawatu / Wanganui was 5.1%, followed by 4.4% in Gisborne/Hawke’s Bay. The lowest annual average unemployment rate was 2.3% in Southland. The annual average rate of unemployment declined in seven of the 12 regions between December 2006 and December 2007. South Island regions had particularly low unemployment rates with Southland, Canterbury and Tasman/Nelson/Marlborough/West Coast all at or below 3.0% unemployment.
- The largest falls in unemployment rates were in Wellington (from 5.0% in the year to December 2006 to 3.5% in the year to December 2007), Bay of Plenty (from 4.0% in the year to December 2006 to 3.3% in the year to December 2007).
Related information
Related links:
Underlying information in the Joint MSD/DoL Quarterly Regional Labour Market Reports was sourced from:
- Ministry of Social Development [external link]
- Statistics New Zealand [external link]
- Department of Labour (Job Vacancy Monitor)
An in-depth analysis of regional labour markets in the Annual In Depth Regional Reports
Further context and interpretation of labour market data can be found in Labour Market Reports.
Future updates:
This is a regular quarterly report – the next update is due on 8 May 2008. Reports from previous periods can be found in the archive.
Author/Contact details:
For further information please contact the Regional Labour Market Analysis team