New Zealand Unemployment Rate

New Zealand's unemployment rate rose to 4.3 percent in the last quarter of 2018 from an upwardly revised 4.0 percent in the previous period and above market expectations of a 4.1 percent. Unemployment Rate in New Zealand averaged 6.02 percent from 1985 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 11.20 percent in the third quarter of 1991 and a record low of 3.30 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Unemployment Rate in New Zealand is expected to be 4.20 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Unemployment Rate in New Zealand to stand at 4.40 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the New Zealand Unemployment Rate is projected to trend around 3.80 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.

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Calendar	GMT		Actual	Previous	Consensus	TEForecast
2018-05-01	10:45 PM	Unemployment Rate	4.4%	4.5%	4.4%	4.6%
2018-07-31	10:45 PM	Unemployment Rate	4.5%	4.4%	4.4%	4.5%
2018-11-06	09:45 PM	Unemployment Rate	3.9%	4.4%	4.5%	4.5%
2019-02-06	09:45 PM	Unemployment Rate	4.3%	4.0%	4.1%	4.4%
2019-04-30	10:45 PM	Unemployment Rate		4.3%	4.1%	4.2%
2019-07-31	10:45 PM	Unemployment Rate				4.2%
2019-11-06	09:45 PM	Unemployment Rate				4.40%

New Zealand Jobless Rate Rises to 4.3% in Q4

New Zealand's unemployment rate rose to 4.3 percent in the last quarter of 2018 from an upwardly revised 4.0 percent in the previous period and above market expectations of a 4.1 percent.

The number of unemployed people increased by 8 thousand to 120 thousand, reflecting 12 thousand more unemployed youth (15–24-year-olds), while employmnent went up by 2 thousand to 2.66 million. The employment rate fell to 67.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 (from 68.2 percent in Q3). The labour force participation rate declined to 70.9 percent in the December quarter from 71 percent in the prior period.

For women, the unemployment rate rose to 4.2 percent, up from 4.0 percent in the previous quarter and for men advanced to 4.4 percent from 3.9 percent.

The underutilisation rate went up to 12.1 percent from 11.4 percent last quarter.

Annual wage inflation, as measured by the labor cost index, edged up to 1.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 from 1.8 percent in the previous period and compared to market expectations of 2.0 percent, as private sector wage growth climbed to 2.0 percent from 1.9 percent. Meanwhile, public sector wages rose 1.7 percent in the December quarter, faster than a 1.5 percent increase in the previous three-month period. On a quarterly basis, wages increased by 0.5 percent, the same pace as in the previous two quarters.

Statistics New Zealand | Stefanie Moya | stefanie.moya@tradingeconomics.com
2/7/2019 12:25:36 PM

News

New Zealand Unemployment Rate Drops to Near 10-Year Low
New Zealand's unemployment rate declined to 3.9 percent in the third quarter of 2018 from a downwardly revised 4.4 percent in the previous period and well below market expectations of 4.5 percent. It was the lowest jobless rate since the second quarter of 2008.
Published on 2018-11-07

New Zealand Jobless Rate Edges Up in Q2
New Zealand's unemployment rate went up to 4.5 percent in the second quarter of 2018 from 4.4 percent in the previous period, surpassing market expectations of 4.4 percent. The slight rise in the jobless rate follows five consecutive falls. Still, it remains close to the nine-year low of 4.4 percent seen in the previous quarter.
Published on 2018-08-01

New Zealand Jobless Rate Falls to 9-Year Low in Q1
New Zealand's unemployment rate edged down to 4.4 percent in the first quarter of 2018 from 4.5 percent in the previous period, matching market expectations.
Published on 2018-05-02

New Zealand Jobless Rate at 9-Year Low in Q4
New Zealand's unemployment rate edged down to 4.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017 from 4.6 percent in the previous period, below market expectations of 4.6 percent. It was the fourth straight decline and the lowest jobless rate since the last quarter of 2008.
Published on 2018-02-07

New Zealand Labour	Last	Previous	Highest	Lowest	Unit
Unemployment Rate	4.30	4.00	11.20	3.30	percent	[+]
Employed Persons	2664.00	2662.00	2664.00	1499.00	Thousand	[+]
Unemployed Persons	120.00	110.00	189.00	69.00	Thousand	[+]
Employment Change	0.10	1.00	2.60	-1.80	percent	[+]
Labor Force Participation Rate	70.90	71.00	71.00	63.00	percent	[+]
Labour Costs	1079.00	1173.00	1173.00	700.00	Index Points	[+]
Productivity	122.93	167.16	171.61	117.96	Index Points	[+]
Job Vacancies	198.20	193.93	200.70	55.20	Index Points	[+]
Job Advertisements	44341.92	46008.12	46008.12	14139.22		[+]
Wages	31.70	31.39	31.70	13.07	NZD/Hour	[+]
Wages in Manufacturing	30.00	29.92	30.00	12.44	NZD/Hour	[+]
Minimum Wages	17.70	16.50	17.70	10.25	NZD/Hour	[+]
Population	4.84	4.75	4.84	2.37	Million	[+]
Retirement Age Women	65.00	65.00	65.00	65.00		[+]
Retirement Age Men	65.00	65.00	65.00	65.00		[+]
Youth Unemployment Rate	14.10	10.30	15.30	10.30	percent	[+]
Part Time Employment	546.00	554.00	554.00	264.00	Thousand	[+]
Employment Rate	67.80	68.20	68.20	56.40	percent	[+]
Full Time Employment	2113.00	2107.00	2113.00	1177.00	Thousand	[+]

In New Zealand, the unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force. This page provides - New Zealand Unemployment Rate - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news. New Zealand Unemployment Rate - actual data, historical chart and calendar of releases - was last updated on April of 2019.

	Actual	Previous	Highest	Lowest	Dates	Unit	Frequency
	4.30	4.00	11.20	3.30	1985 - 2018	percent	Quarterly

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Country	Last		Previous	Range
South Africa	27.10	Dec/18	27.5	31.2 : 21.5	%
Turkey	14.70	Jan/19	13.5	14.8 : 7.3	%
Spain	14.45	Dec/18	14.55	26.94 : 4.41	%
Brazil	12.40	Feb/19	12	13.7 : 6.2	%
Italy	10.70	Feb/19	10.5	13.1 : 5.8	%
Argentina	9.10	Dec/18	9	20.8 : 5.9	%
France	8.80	Dec/18	9.1	10.7 : 7.2	%
Euro Area	7.80	Feb/19	7.8	12.1 : 7.3	%
Saudi Arabia	6.00	Dec/18	6	6.3 : 4.35	%
Canada	5.80	Mar/19	5.8	13.1 : 2.9	%
Indonesia	5.34	Sep/18	5.13	11.24 : 2	%
Australia	5.00	Mar/19	4.9	11.2 : 4	%
Russia	4.70	Mar/19	4.9	14.1 : 4.5	%
United Kingdom	3.90	Feb/19	3.9	12 : 3.4	%
China	3.80	Dec/18	3.82	4.3 : 3.8	%
South Korea	3.80	Mar/19	3.7	7.1 : 3	%
United States	3.80	Mar/19	3.8	10.8 : 2.5	%
India	3.53	Dec/18	3.52	8.3 : 3.41	%
Netherlands	3.30	Mar/19	3.4	7.9 : 3.3	%
Mexico	3.20	Mar/19	3.3	6.42 : 2.22	%
Germany	3.10	Feb/19	3.2	11.5 : 0.4	%
Switzerland	2.50	Mar/19	2.7	5.7 : 1.5	%
Japan	2.30	Feb/19	2.5	5.5 : 1	%
Singapore	2.20	Dec/18	2.1	6 : 1.4	%