The NZ Employment numbers for 1Q have just been released.

They came in better than expected:

NZ Employment data for 1Q was:

- Employment (Q/Q) 0.7% (consensus -0.3%)
- Employment (Y/Y) 1.6% (consensus 0.7%)
- Unemployment Rate 4.2% (consensus 4.4%)
- Participation Rate 70.4% (consensus 70.0%)

In addition, Private Ordinary Time Wages were +0.3% (+0.5% expected)

NZ went in to lock down on 25th March, hence will have had a limited very impact on these figures. It does highlight the NZ employment market was robust pre-lockdown. It will be sometime (years?) before we see employment data this good again.

The NZD traded a little higher in immediate response.

Link to the Statistic NZ press release:

https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/unemployment-rate-at-4-point-2-percent-in-march-quarter

Current indicative levels are:

NZD-USD 0.6050 / 0.6075
NZD-AUD 0.9400 / 0.9425
NZD-EUR 0.5580 / 0.5605
NZD-GBP 0.4860 / 0.4885
NZD-JPY 64.45 / 64.70

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