Youth Labour Market Factsheet – December 2007

08 February 2008

This factsheet reports key youth labour market information for the year to September 2007. All data are sourced from the Household Labour Force Survey released by Statistics New Zealand. Age data are not seasonally adjusted and so all figures are averaged over a year to reduce seasonal variation and sample error. For the purposes of this factsheet, youth refers to those aged 15-19 years.

Summary of the youth labour market for the year to December 2007

Long description for Youth Labour Market Summary

Participation

The youth participation rate increased to 56.3% for the year to December 2007.  This is up from 54.8% recorded for the year to December 2006 and 52.3% for the year to December 1999.  While the youth participation rate is below the national annual average participation rate of 68.6%, the high rates of secondary and tertiary education in this age group mean that the participation rate on its own is not as meaningful of a measure of outcomes as it is for other age groups.

Employment

Employment growth for youth has been high at 3.4% per annum on average since December 1999.  This expansion in employment is higher than the economy-wide average of 2.4% since 1999.  Over the last year annual average youth employment grew by 4.1%, above the average rate of 1.8% for all persons.

Unemployment

The unemployment rate for youth increased to 14.0% for the year to December 2007.  This is up from 13.7% for the year to December 2006, but is down from 16.7% for the year to December 1999.  The youth unemployment rate remains well above the annual average rate for all persons (3.6%).

Ethnicity

Since December 2000 the unemployment rate for Maori youth has fallen from 29.7% to 22.6% and the unemployment rate for Pacific youth has fallen from 27.1% to 22.0%.  Since the same time last year, the unemployment rate for Maori youth has fallen while the rate for Pacific youth has remained unchanged.  In addition, Maori and Pacific youth unemployment rates remain well above that of European youth (11.6%).