Unemployment rate rises to 6.0 percent

Embargoed until 10:45am – 6 August 2009

Unemployment rate rises to 6.0 percent

In seasonally adjusted terms, the unemployment rate continued to rise, reaching 6.0 percent during the June 2009 quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today. Both the number of people unemployed and the unemployment rate have been increasing for the past six quarters.

The unemployment rate rose by 1.0 percentage point during the June 2009 quarter, the largest quarterly increase since the September 1988 quarter. The female unemployment rate increased by 1.5 percentage points to 6.3 percent during the June 2009 quarter, while the male unemployment rate increased by 0.6 percentage points to 5.7 percent.

During the June 2009 quarter, the number of people unemployed went up by 20.6 percent to reach 138,000. This increase was largely driven by a 15,000 rise in the number of females unemployed. The number of unemployed males also went up, increasing by 8,000 in the latest quarter. During the last 12 months, the number of unemployed rose by 48,000.

The number of people employed went down to 2,169,000 in the June 2009 quarter, with full-time employment decreasing by 18,000 and part-time employment up by 7,000. The decrease in employment was driven by female full-time employment, which fell by 16,000. The shift from full-time to part-time employment is reflected in the number of actual hours worked per week, which fell by 1.9 percent in the June 2009 quarter.

The June 2009 quarter also saw an increase of 0.3 percent in the working-age population. This rise is reflected in the increase in the total labour force. In the latest quarter, the labour force participation rate rose by 0.1 percentage points to 68.4 percent. The female participation rate fell to 62.1 percent, while the male participation rate rose to 75.2 percent.

Geoff Bascand
Government Statistician
6 August 2009
ENDS

householdlabourforcesurveyjun09qtrhotp.pdf
hlfsjun09qtralltablesoriginal.xls

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Household Labour Force Survey: June 2009 quarter highlights

• The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 6.0 percent.
• Seasonally adjusted unemployment increased by 24,000 to 138,000.
• Seasonally adjusted employment decreased by 10,000 to 2,169,000.

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