The unemployment rate in New Zealand has lifted to 4.8 per cent in the September 2024 quarter, up from 4.6 per cent recorded in the previous quarter according to Stats NZ.
Alongside this, the employment rate fell to 67.8 per cent in the quarter, while annual wage inflation hit 3.8 per cent, and the average ordinary time hourly earnings were NZ$41.98.
“The unemployment rate has grown over the last two years, rising from 3.2 per cent in the September 2022 quarter to 4.8 per cent this quarter,” Stats NZ labour market statistics manager Deb Brunning said.
Annually, the number of unemployed people increased by 24.2 per cent to 144,900.
There were annual increases in the number of people who had been unemployed for a certain amount of time. Those unemployed from three to six months is up 47.2 percent to 29,500.
Those over six months to one year were up 53.2 per cent to 32,500, while New Zealanders unemployed for more than a year is up 55.5 percent to 16,900.
The number of people unemployed for shorter periods remained relatively steady over the year.
The seasonally adjusted labour force participation rate in the September 2024 quarter was 71.2 per cent, down 0.5 percentage points over the quarter and 0.8 percentage points over the year.
Meanwhile, the underutilisation rate was 11.6 per cent in the September 2024 quarter, slightly down from 11.8 per cent in the June 2024 quarter.
Underutilisation is a broad measure of untapped labour market capacity that includes unemployed and underemployed people along with the potential labour force.
Over the year, the number of people who were not in the labour force (NILF) grew by 57,000.
“There are many reasons why a jobless person might be not in the labour force rather than unemployed, including retirement, discouragement, study, or being permanently unable to work,” Brunning said.
“From the survey, some of the largest increases in those not in the labour force over the year came from people mainly engaged in leisure activities, studying or training, and taking care of themselves due to their own sickness, illness, injury, or disability.”
The seasonally adjusted employment rate fell to 67.8 per cent from 68.4 per cent recorded in the June 2024 quarter and 69.3 per cent in the September 2023 quarter.
The figures show 2.9 million New Zealanders were employed in the September 2024 quarter. This was not a statistically significant change from the previous year, but it was a smaller proportion of the working-age population, which grew 75,000 annually.
“While net employment remained stable, there were changes in who was employed over the year, as 45,700 more people who had been recently employed became jobless,” Brunning said.
“Compared with last September quarter, there were about a third more people reporting they had left their last job through redundancies or business shutdowns.”
The number of jobless people who had been employed in the last five years and left that role due to layoffs, redundancies, or business closures rose 34.5 per cent annually to 55,000.
In the year to the September 2024 quarter, all salary and wage rates (including overtime), as measured by the labour cost index, increased 3.8 per cent. This compares with 4.3 per cent in the year to the June 2024 quarter.
Average ordinary time hourly earnings in the Quarterly Employment Survey rose 3.9 per cent in the year to the September 2024 quarter, compared with 5.0 per cent in the year to the June 2024 quarter.