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New Zealand’s unemployment rate had a record 5.3 percent rise in the past three months as more people started looking for work, after a surprising post-closing decline.
There were 37,000 more unemployed in the three months through the end of September, a 32.5 percent increase from the June quarter to 151,000 people, Statistics NZ said Wednesday.
That was the largest quarterly increase in unemployed people since Stats NZ started the series in 1986.
DAVID BLANCO / THINGS
New Zealand’s unemployment rate recorded a record rise of 5.3 percent.
The next largest quarterly increase was in the June 2009 quarter, during the global financial crisis, when there were an additional 18,000 unemployed, Stats NZ said.
“We continue to see the economic effects of Covid-19 and its associated border business closures,” said Stats NZ Senior Manager of Household Statistics and Labor Market Sean Broughton.
“151,000 is the highest number of unemployed we have seen in eight years.”
That was despite the extension of the wage subsidy and the two-week resurgence wage subsidy. Auckland was at level 3 blocking for much of the quarter, with the rest of the country at level 2.
“The low unemployment rate of 4 percent last quarter is partly explained by the inability of people to be ‘actively looking’ and available for work during the national lockdown that ran for much of the quarter,” said Broughton.
“The increase in unemployment this quarter reflects a return to more normal job-seeking behaviors.”
Auckland unemployment increased by 15,800 and was 14,200 more than in the same quarter last year.
Wellington saw an increase of 6,500 unemployed, and Otago had an increase of 2,900, compared to the September quarter of 2019.
Women continued to be the most affected, with an unemployment rate that increased to 5.8% and that of men to 4.8%.
The employment rate for women fell from 62.8% to 61.2% over the three months, compared to the employment rate for men which fell from 72.8% to 71.8%.
Most of the affected women’s jobs were in tourism-related industries such as accommodation, travel agencies, passenger transport and hospitality.
Young people were also severely affected, with 9,100 more unemployed aged 15-24, followed by 6,100 more unemployed aged 55-64.
The underutilization rate increased by 84,000 people to 13.2% between the March and September quarters, with 48,000 more women and 36,000 more men.
There were also a growing number of women who were not part of the workforce: an increase of 1,000 women and a decrease of 6,000 men.
Underutilization includes people who are unemployed, underemployed, and the potential workforce.
The number of people employed fell by 22,000 during the quarter, the third largest quarterly drop in employment since the series began in 1986. That brought the employment rate to 66.4 percent, compared to 67.1 percent for the June quarter. Stats NZ noted that it was still at a comparatively high level.
There was a return to something close to normal in the number of hours worked during the quarter, 91.4 million, despite Auckland’s level 3 lockdown. There had been a record drop of 9.5 million hours in the June quarter to 83.6 million.
Wages also increased over the three months, 0.6 percent as measured by the labor cost index. The 0.9 percent increase in public sector salaries partly reflected salary increases among police, hospital staff, and teachers from previously agreed collective bargaining agreements.
Private sector wages grew 0.4 percent during the quarter.
For the year, wages increased 1.9 percent overall, those in the public sector increased 2.6 percent, and those in the private sector increased 1.6 percent.
Average hourly earnings in ordinary time, as measured by the Quarterly Employment Survey, increased to $ 33.91, up 1.4 percent per quarter and 3.6 percent annually.
People were also increasingly confident in their job security.
The unemployment rate for the June quarter beat forecasts, falling to 4% from 4.2% during the March quarter, which ended just after New Zealand entered lockdown level 4.
The official unemployment rate measures the average unemployment rate during each quarter, rather than the unemployment rate at the end of the quarter.
New Zealand’s 5.3 percent unemployment rate ranks the country 17th in the OECD, significantly below its seventh place in the June quarter. The country ranked sixth in its employment rate.
