Regional labour Market Overview 2006
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Summary
Trends in the national labour market, as documented in the Department of Labour's (DoL) Labour Market Outlook and other labour market reports on the DoL website www.dol.govt.nz, have shown a marked improvement in labour market conditions in the past five years. Strong, employment-rich economic growth has taken the national participation rate to record highs and the unemployment rate below 4% - one of the lowest rates in the OECD.
Strength in the national labour market is reflected in improved performance across all regions - particularly those where the labour market has traditionally been weakest. Between 2000 and 2005 even the slowest growing regions saw job growth of at least 2% a year on average. The fastest growing regions saw average yearly growth of 4% or more. This has helped take regional participation rates in late 2006 to historic highs, varying between 66% and 72% and regional unemployment rates to 5% or less; some lower than 3%.
Stronger regional labour market performance has been accompanied by a reduction in the disparities between regions' labour market performance. In the past five years, regions with weaker labour markets have improved more than those with strong labour markets.