February 5, 2014 11:03am by David Farrar

Unemployment drops

The labour market continues to grow and unemployment has fallen to 6.0 percent, Statistics New Zealand said today. There were 24,000 more people employed in the December 2013 quarter, following an additional 28,000 in the September quarter.

Over the December 2013 year, the number of people employed rose 3.0 percent in the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS). Demand for workers from established businesses rose 1.9 percent in the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES).

“We’re seeing strength across the labour market, particularly in the industries that provide services,” industry and labour statistics manager Diane Ramsay said. “The unemployment rate has been falling and employment rising for the last 18 months, with both now at levels last seen in early 2009.”

The global financial crisis and recession devastated the NZ economy in 2008 and 2009. It’s great to see unemployment tracking down. NZ now has the 12th lowest unemployment rate out of 34 OECD countries, which is one place better than last quarter.

Some stats:

24,000 more people in employment in the last quarter
Unemployment drops from 6.2% to 6.0%
The under 20 unemployment rate remains high at 24% (they’re priced out of the market) but the percentage of under 20s not in employment, education or training is 8.3%
The manufactured manufacturing crisis continues with an extra 6,100 jobs in the manufacturing sector
Average ordinary-time weekly earnings (by FTE) rose 2.8 percent from a year ago