Hon Paula Bennett
Minister for Social Development and Employment
Minister of Youth Affairs

6 August 2009 Media Release
Unemployment rate rise a concern, but no surprise

There’s been a larger than expected increase in the number of people looking for work, says the Social Development and Employment Minister Paula Bennett.

The Household Labour Force Survey puts the official rate of unemployment at 6.0 percent for the June quarter, up from 5.0 percent on March.

“This is the single biggest quarterly increase in the unemployment rate since September 1988, and that’s obviously of concern to this Government,” Ms Bennett says.

“New Zealand continues to feel the effects of this global downturn. But we’re holding up internationally, with an unemployment rate well under the OECD average of 8.3 percent. While that’s no comfort to those who are looking for work, this Government is taking an active and balanced approach to turning the economy around to create more jobs.

“This survey shows an increase in the labour force participation rate of 0.1 percent. The number of people in jobs also didn’t drop by as much as was predicted, which suggests employers are trying to hold on to their workers.”

As with last quarter, the trend of more people going into part time work continued. While full-time jobs fell by 18,000 this was partially offset by an increase of 7,000 in part time employment.

Youth people continue to be affected more than any other age group. The unemployment rate for 15 – 19 year olds is up 7.5 percent on a year ago. For 20 – 24 year olds that’s an increase of 4.7 percent.

“Young people are having to compete with more experienced workers for jobs. We know how tough that’ll be - that’s why we’ve created the Youth Opportunities Package, to give them some experience in the labour market,” Ms Bennett says.

ENDS

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