Unemployment climbs to 5.1%

Unemployment has continued to grow with the seasonally adjusted rate hitting 5.1 per cent in the December 2024 quarter, according to new figures released by Stats NZ.

The latest total was up from 4.8 per cent in the September 2024 quarter and 4.6 per cent for the three months to June last year.

Deb Brunning, labour market spokesperson, says: “Unemployment has been increasing since late 2022. The unemployment rate in the December 2024 quarter was the highest it’s been since the September 2020 quarter, when it was 5.2 per cent.”

The seasonally adjusted employment rate came in at 67.4 per cent in the December 2024 quarter, down from 69 per cent in the same period of 2023.

The drop reflected 32,000 fewer employed people over the past year, the largest annual fall in employment since the year to the December 2009 quarter.

“Men accounted for 85 per cent of the annual decrease in employment, reflecting substantial falls in the male-dominated occupation groups of technicians and trades workers, and machinery operators and drivers,” explains Brunning.

Other key findings from Stats NZ for the last three months of 2024 show annual wage inflation was 3.3 per cent and average ordinary time hourly earnings were $42.57.

Annually, unemployment rose by 33,000 to 156,000, as measured by the Household Labour Force Survey.

Stats NZ also notes the underutilisation rate rose to 12.1 per cent from 11.6 per cent in the September 2024 quarter and 10.7 per cent in the December 2023 quarter.

Underutilisation is a broad measure of untapped labour market capacity that includes unemployed and underemployed people, along with the potential labour force.