The number of filled jobs in New Zealand has fallen for the seventh consecutive month, according to the latest monthly figures from Statistics NZ.
And according to Stats NZ's Monthly Employment Indicators (MEI) there are over 35,500 fewer jobs now in NZ than there were a year ago. The younger age groupings continued to see the biggest proportion of falls, with over 30,000 jobs gone in the 15-29 age bracket.
The figures for October 2024 show that, on a seasonally-adjusted basis, the number of filled jobs fell by over 2,000 (0.1%) to 2.36 million, following a revised down drop of 0.1% in September.
It means that in the past seven months the filled jobs numbers have consecutively fallen by between 0.1% to 0.4%. (Note that the month-on-month comparisons are seasonally-adjusted while the year-on-year comparisons use actual figures.)
These numbers are prone to extensive revision - but the recent pattern has been that they've tended to be revised down in subsequent months.
The MEI figures come from Inland Revenue data and are therefore sourced quite differently to the quarterly unemployment figures that come from Stats NZ's Household Labour Force Survey.
According to the latest HLFS figures for the September quarter, released in early November, NZ's unemployment rate has risen to 4.8% from 4.6% as of the June quarter.
The Reserve Bank (RBNZ) is forecasting that the unemployment figures will continue to rise, peaking at 5.2% in the March quarter 2025.
Stats NZ's MEI seasonally adjusted figures for October show that the key changes in the month were:
- all industries – down 0.1% (2,017 jobs) to 2.36 million filled jobs
- primary industries – up 1.2% (1,304 jobs)
- goods-producing industries – down 0.2% (1,006 jobs)
- service industries – down 0.1% (2,557 jobs).
The non-seasonally adjusted (IE, actual) figures showing the picture for the past year show that by industry, the largest changes in the number of filled jobs compared with October 2023 were in:
- public administration and safety – down 7.2% (12,671 jobs)
- construction – down 5.3% (11,141 jobs)
- health care and social assistance – up 3.7% (10,059 jobs)
- administrative and support services – down 6.2% (6,362 jobs)
- accommodation and food services – down 3.5% (5,615 jobs).
By region, the largest changes in the number of filled jobs compared with October 2023 were in:
- Auckland – down 1.9% (15,756 jobs)
- Wellington – down 2.2% (5,706 jobs)
- Waikato – down 0.8% (1,869 jobs)
- Manawatū-Whanganui – down 1.5% (1,732 jobs)
- Canterbury – down 0.5% (1,708 jobs).
By age group, the largest changes in the number of filled jobs compared with October 2023 were in:
- 15–19 years – down 12.3% (16,988 jobs)
- 25–29 years – down 5.0% (13,386 jobs)
- 35–39 years – up 3.2% (8,609 jobs)
- 20–24 years – down 3.5% (7,950 jobs)
- 40–44 years – up 2.2% (5,387 jobs).
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