Good employment and wages news

The latest jobs and wages data from Stats NZ finds:

• Employment up 72,000 in last year, being 66,000 full-time and 6,000 part-time
• Unemployment down 14,000 in last year
• Labour force up by 57,000
• Unemployment rate down to 5.4%, from 6.1% a year ago
• NZ 9th lowest unemployment rate in OECD of 34 countries.
• Unemployment rate now 0.7% lower than Australia and US, 0.9% lower than UK and 1.5% lower than Canada
• The NEET (Not in employment, education or training) rate for under 20s down to 7.2% from 8.1% a year ago
• Average weekly earnings up (over year) 1.8%, being 2.2% in private sector and 1.4% in public sector
• Average hourly earnings up 2.4%, being 3.0% in private sector and 1.0% in public sector
• Male hourly earnings up 2.0% and female hourly earnings up 2.7%