Jobless rate is the lowest since 2008
Unemployment has dropped to the lowest level in more than eight years, falling to 4.8 per cent in the middle of the year.
Despite a surprise fall in the number of people working in recent months, Statistics New Zealand said those classified as unemployed dropped by 3000 to 128,000 in the three months to June 30. At 4.8 per cent, unemployment sits at the lowest since the final months of 2008, during the global financial crisis, in the months that National took office.
The New Zealand dollar dropped on the news, down more than half a cent against the US dollar, with the market expecting employment growth would have remained strong.
ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said the fall in the number of people unemployed was quite unexpected.
‘‘The softness in employment growth is surprising, especially given employment indicators were robust over the quarter. Annual growth is, nevertheless, strong at 3.1 per cent,’’ Tuffley said.
However the unemployment rate is being hailed by the Government.
‘‘Our strong economy continues to deliver for New Zealanders,’’ Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Paul Goldsmith said in a statement.
Unemployment among women which tends to be higher than for men dropped sharply in the quarter, down from 5.7 per cent to 4.9 per cent, the lowest since March 2009.
Although the number of females in employment rose by only 1000 in three months, there was a much larger fall in the number who were not considered to be in the labour force.
Unemployment among men actually rose in the three months since the end of March, to 4.7 per cent, from 4.2 per cent in March.
Although New Zealand’s working age population has been growing rapidly on the back of record gains from net migration, the number of jobs the economy has been adding has seen unemployment gradually fall, from a recent high of 6.6 per cent in 2012.
In the 12 months to June 30, the number of people employed in New Zealand rose by 76,200, an increase of 3.1 per cent.
During the June quarter, the number of people employed in New Zealand actually fell slightly. However, a large increase in those not considered to be in the labour force pushed unemployment down.
Northland still has the highest unemployment of any region, despite a sharp fall in the number of jobless in the past 12 months. Northland’s unemployment rate was 7.2 per cent in the June quarter, down from 7.2 per cent in June 2016.
A group covering Nelson, Tasman, Marlborough and the West Coast currently has the lowest unemployment rate in New Zealand, dropping to 3 per cent, from 5.9 per cent a year ago.
Overall unemployment dropped in both the North and South Islands, to 4.9 per cent and 4 per cent respectively, compared to a year earlier.