Employment flat; more jobless
EMPLOYMENT during the quarter to December remained flat while the number of unemployed edged up by 0.3% to 4.2%, according to StatsNZ data released yesterday.
Wage growth was ‘‘modest’’, with the private sector wages up 0.5% for the quarter to December and in the public sector up 0.7%.
Unemployed men rose by 8000, unemployed women rose 2000 and there were 12,000 more unemployed youth; aged 1524yearsold, according to StatsNZ household labour force survey released yesterday.
Westpac senior economist Michael Gordon said the latest figures portrayed slowing jobs growth and muted wage pressures.
‘‘The latest figures present a more modest picture of the labour market over the last year,’’ he said in a statement.
Employment had grown only slightly faster than the workingage population, and the unemployment rate was only 0.2 percentage points lower than a year ago, Mr Gordon said.
StatsNZ labour market and household statistics senior manager Jason Attewell said the unemployment rate for men rose to 4.4% in the December quarter, while it was 4.2% for women. ‘‘This was the first time since June 2010 that this rate was lower for women than men,’’ he said.
Mr Attewell said private sector wages for the year to December were up 2%, while public sector wages increased 1.7%.
In the December quarter, the nurses’ pay settlement, which came into effect in August 2018, affected both the labour cost index and quarterly employment surveys.
Annual wage inflation reflected the remaining twothirds of the settlement in the latest quarter. For the quarterly employment survey, the key contributor to the increase in public sector hourly earnings came from hospitals, Mr Attewell said.
While the central bank has repeatedly said that the next move in rates could be up or down, its official forecasts show the next move will be a hike, albeit not until late 2020,BusinessDesk reported.
ASB senior economist Mark Smith said the survey result was ‘‘generally expected’’, with employment ‘‘virtually flat’’.
‘‘The lack of an inflationary smoking gun keeps the prospect of possible official cash rate cuts alive,’’ he said.