WELLINGTON, May 3 (NNN-XINHUA) – New Zealand’s unemployment rate stood at 3.4 percent in the Mar, 2023 quarter, unchanged from last quarter, with the average hourly wages rising 7.6 percent, according to figures released by the statistics department, Stats NZ, today.
The average hourly wages reached 38.93 NZ dollars (24.3 U.S. dollars) in the first three months of 2023, Stats NZ said.
The underutilisation rate, a broad measure of spare labour capacity, that includes those unemployed, underemployed, and in the potential labour force, decreased to nine percent from 9.3 percent the previous quarter, it said.
Unemployment and underutilisation rates have been sitting at or near record lows for more than a year, Stats NZ work and wellbeing statistics senior manager, Becky Collett, said.
In the Mar, 2023 quarter, the labour force participation rate increased to 72 percent, and the employment rate grew to 69.5 percent. Both are the highest rates recorded since the statistics series began in 1986, Collett said.
In the year to the Mar, 2023 quarter, all salary and wage rates (including overtime) gained 4.3 percent, compared with 4.1 percent in the year to the Dec, 2022 quarter, statistics showed.
New Zealanders are in paid work in record numbers, and wages are outpacing inflation, as the government’s economic plan continues to deliver more jobs and growing wages to help with cost-of-living pressures, said Finance Minister, Grant Robertson.
“This is a positive result and shows we continue to be in a position of strength to face the challenges ahead, with the economy adding 22,000 jobs in the first three months of the year,” he said.– NNN-XINHUA