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    Jobs in NZ
    Long term changes
    from The Jobs Letter No.18 / 29 May 1995

    The new face of working New Zealand is clearly described in the latest Statistics NZ report "Labour Market 1994". The report shows that the 40-hr working week seems to be a thing of the past, as two-thirds of the labour force now working only part-time or more than 40 hrs. The report also shows a change in the demographics of work with many older people now working beyond what used to be called the "normal" retirement age of 60 yrs. The statistics in the report were based on the year to March 1994. Key points :

  • THE PASSING OF THE 40 HOUR JOB
    We now have a broad three-way split in the shape of our labour force : about a third of the people are working part-time, a third are working around about 40 hrs a week, and a about a third are working more than 40 hrs a week. Of the people working part-time, the majority were women. Of the people working dis-proportionally long hours, most of them are men.

  • THE RISE OF OVERWORK.
    Of the people who are working longer hours, the survey found more than 130,000 people who are routinely working 60 hrs a week, and more than 50,000 of these people who are putting in more than 70 hrs a week.

  • OVERWORKED AND UNDERPAID
    Much of the extra work being done is unpaid. The report says that while the average weekly hours worked at ordinary time has increased each year between 1991-1994, the number of paid hours on overtime actually decreased.

  • THE RISE OF SELF- EMPLOYEMENT
    Self employed people have risen every year since 1987 to number 180,200 people today. Those working the very long hours tend also to be self-employed people. They have the incentive to work these long hours ... or else many of them would be going broke.

    More jobs, fewer unemployed. The numbers in employment increased by almost 40 thousand during the year to more than 1.5 million people. The numbers of unemployed dropped by 17,200 to 155,400 people.

  • MANUFACTURING IS HOT
    Manufacturing made up the biggest growth sector in the economy with 20,000 more people employed compared to the previous year.

  • PART- TIME WORK IS UP
    The number of people in part-time work increased by 7,200 people, making up 21% of all those employed. Part-time employees increased 18% between 1990-1994, while full-time employees fell 4.67% over the same period.

  • THE OLDER EMPLOYED
    31% of older people between 60-64 years are still in the paid workforce, and this figure is up from 25% the previous year. These people working in their 60's working beyond what used to be the "normal" retirement age seem mainly worried about their entitlements for superannuation. This trend of the 60+ staying in work has closely matched the rise in the age at which they are entitled to national superannuation.

  • LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED
    Almost half of al unemployed have been that way for more than 6 months.

  • MATURE UNEMPLOYED
    Although unemployment has dropped with the growth in the economy, more people in their forties and fifties are now out of work. The 40-44 age group and the 50-54 age group were the only ones to record an increase in unemployment in the last year.

  • YOUTH UNEMPLOYED
    Young people have the highest unemployment rate ... about a third of the unemployed are aged under 25 years. One in five people aged 15-19 yrs are trying to get into the workforce.

  • QUALIFIED UNEMPLOYED
    People without qualifications had an unemployment rate of 14.9% compared with 5.5% for people holding school and post-school qualifications.

    Average Wage. The average total weekly earnings increased 1.2% in the year to Feb 94, from $585.31 to $592.55. This increase was due mostly to a higher hourly rate and employees working more hours.

    Labour Market 1994, a report from Statistics NZ ($39.95)

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