The Jobs Letter — Statistics That Matter

No.251
17 March 2006

Download this
Statistics That Matter
as a PDF file

1999 Incomes Report

Work
Employed and Unemployed

Part-Time and Full-Time Work

Income
Sources of Income

Income from the Market

Income from Benefits

Distribution of Gross Income

Distribution of Market Income

Distribution of Benefits

Age
Employment and Age

Income and Age

Benefits and Age

Ethnic
Income and Ethnic
Benefits and Ethnic

Education
Employment and Education

Benefits and Education

"Growing Gap Between Rich and Poor"
— The Jobs Letter commentary on the 1999 Incomes Report

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A Microsoft Excel file of all the data behind these figures can be downloaded from here.

Employment and
Unemployment in NZ

March 2006

The official unemployed rates are an internationally recognised figure for unemployment based on the Household Labour Force Survey run by Statistics New Zealand.
These are the latest figures for March 2006 .

Official Unemployment in NZ

ONE IN 26 PEOPLE OFFICIALLY UNEMPLOYED IN NZ

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED IN NZ
March 2006 seasonally adjusted
86,000 people

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OFFICIAL RATE OF UNEMPLOYED
March 2006 seasonally adjusted
3.9% OR ONE IN 26 PEOPLE

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RISE IN NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED
IN LAST THREE MONTHS
December 2005 to March 2006
8,000 people

. RISE IN NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED
IN THE LAST YEAR
March 2005 to March 2006
4,000 people

Source — Statistics NZ

OFFICIALLY UNEMPLOYED IN THE REGIONS March 2006
`NORTHLAND`	`5.2%`	`or one in 19 people`
`AUCKLAND`	`3.9%`	`or one in 26 people`
`WAIKATO`	`4.3%`	`or one in 23 people`
`BAY OF PLENTY`	`4.8%`	`or one in 21 people`
`GISBORNE - HAWKES BAY`	`3.6%`	`or one in 28 people`
`TARANAKI`	`4.7%`	`or one in 21 people`
`WANGANUI - MANAWATU`	`4.9%`	`or one in 20 people`
`WELLINGTON`	`5.8%`	`or one in 17 people`
`NELSON - MARLBOROUGH TASMAN - WEST COAST`	`4.2%`	`or one in 24 people`
`CANTERBURY`	`3.7%`	`or one in 27 people`
`OTAGO`	`5.1%`	`or one in 20 people`
`SOUTHLAND`	`3.3%`	`or one in 30 people`
Source — Statistics NZ

REGIONS WITH A DROP IN UNEMPLOYMENT
IN THE LAST THREE MONTHS
December 2005 to March 2006
Gisborne/Hawkes Bay

REGIONS WITH NO CHANGE IN UNEMPLOYMENT

REGIONS WITH A RISE IN UNEMPLOYMENT
Northland Auckland Waikato Bay of Plenty Taranaki Wanganui/Manawatu Wellington Nelson/Marlborough/Tasman/West Coast Canterbury Otago Southland

Registrations at Ministry of Social Development
(formerly Winz)

PEOPLE REGISTERED AS JOB SEEKERS
WITH MINISTRY OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
March 2006
80,792

NOTIFIED VACANCIES
for month of March 2006
Figures Unavailable

Source — Ministry of Social Development

The Underemployed

March 2006
68,500 people

According to Statistics NZ, the underemployed are workers who are employed part time but would prefer to work more hours

The Employed

NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN JOBS IN NEW ZEALAND
March 2006 seasonally adjusted
2,108,000 people

RISE IN THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN JOBS IN LAST 3 MONTHS
December 2005 to March 2006
23,000

RISE IN THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN JOBS IN LAST YEAR
March 2005 to March 2006
54,000 people

SECTORS WITH A RISE IN EMPLOYMENT IN LAST YEAR
Construction, Business & Financial Services, Health & Community Services, Other Services.

SECTORS WITH A DROP IN EMPLOYMENT IN LAST YEAR
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing, Manufacturing, Wholesale & Retail Trade, Transport,Storage & Communication, Education.

Full-time and Part-time

GAIN IN FULL-TIME EMPLOYED
IN THE PAST YEAR
March 2005 to March 2006
43,200 people

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GAIN IN PART-TIME EMPLOYED
IN THE PAST YEAR
March 2005 to March 2006
10,000 people

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...	`Full-time`	`Part-time`
`Men`	`1,031,900 (91%)`	`106,600 (9%)`
`Women`	`632,100 (65%)`	`347,400 (35%)`
`Total`	`1,663,900`	`444,000`
`Overall %`	`79%`	`21%`
Source — Statistics NZ

Unemployed by sex

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Global Unemployment Rates

SPAIN 8.7%
FRANCE 9.1%
GERMANY 8.9%
ITALY 7.7%
CANADA 6.4%
OECD AVERAGE 6.3%
UNITED STATES 4.8%
AUSTRALIA 5.0%
JAPAN 4.1%
BRITAIN 4.9%
NEW ZEALAND 3.9%

Officially Jobless

"Those without a job and wanting a job ..."

These are the statistics that are more commonly used by community workers and employment activists in New Zealand because they more accurately reflect the people who are their concern or clients.

These "Jobless" figures are also based on the Household Labour Force Survey run by Statistics NZ, but include a wider definition of unemployment, usually referred to "those without a job and wanting a job".

ONE IN 14 PEOPLE OFFICIALLY JOBLESS IN NZ

According to Statistics NZ, the difference between the official "unemployment" figures and the "jobless figures" is that many of the people on the jobless measurement are available for work, but not actively seeking it.

The reasons for not actively seeking work range from people being discouraged because they lack the skills needed, or were the wrong age, or that the right work was not available in their area, or they were only looking for jobs in their newspaper. This measurement also includes those actively seeking work but not yet available for it.

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF JOBLESS IN NZ
March 2006
161,200 people

OFFICIAL RATE OF JOBLESS
March 2006
7.1% OR ONE IN 14 PEOPLE

RISE IN NUMBER OF JOBLESS
IN LAST THREE MONTHS
December 2005 to March 2006
16,400

NO CHANGE IN NUMBER OF JOBLESS
IN THE LAST YEAR
March 2005 to March 2006
0 people

Source — Statistics NZ

JOBLESS IN THE REGIONS March 2006
`NORTHLAND`	`8.3%`	`or one in 12 people`
`AUCKLAND`	`6.6%`	`or one in 15 people`
`WAIKATO`	`7.0%`	`or one in 14 people`
`BAY OF PLENTY`	`8.0%`	`or one in 13 people`
`GISBORNE - HAWKES BAY`	`6.3%`	`or one in 16 people`
`TARANAKI`	`8.4%`	`or one in 12 people`
`WANGANUI - MANAWATU`	`8.5%`	`or one in 12 people`
`WELLINGTON`	`8.8%`	`or one in 11 people`
`NELSON - MARLBOROUGH TASMAN - WEST COAST`	`6.4%`	`or one in 16 people`
`CANTERBURY`	`6.0%`	`or one in 17 people`
`OTAGO`	`7.7%`	`or one in 13 people`
`SOUTHLAND`	`5.8%`	`or one in 17 people`
Source — Statistics NZ

Labour Force Participation Rate

LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATE
March 2006
68.5%

Source — Statistics NZ

Race / Ethnic

MAORI RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT
March 2006
8.7% or one in 11 Maori people

PACIFIC ISLAND RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT
March 2006
7.6% or one in 13 Pacific Island people

NZ EUROPEAN (PAKEHA) RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT
March 2006
3.2% or one in 31 NZ European (Pakeha) people

Source — Statistics NZ

Age Rates and Long-term Unemployment

YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
-- AGED 15-19 YEARS
March 2006
14% or one in 7 young people

MATURE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
-- AGED 50-65 YEARS
March 2006
2.4% or one in 42 mature people

LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED (over 6 months)
March 2006
8,700 people 9% or one in 11 of the unemployed

LONGER-TERM UNEMPLOYED (over 2 years)
March 2006
1,800 people 2% or one in 53 of the unemployed

VERY LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED (over 5 years)
December 2005 Less than 1,000 people Figure too small for accurate estimate.

Source — Statistics NZ

The Schemes and Subsidised Jobs

TASKFORCE GREEN 215 people

JOB PLUS 2,158 people

JOB PLUS MAORI 40 people

JOB CONNECTION 175 people

ENTERPRISE ALLOWANCE 39 people

ENTERPRISE ALLOWANCE with capitalisation 138 people

TRAINING OPPORTUNITY PROGRAMME (TOPS COURSES) 7,170 people

YOUTH TRAINING (T.E.C.) 4,858 people

LIMITED SERVICE VOLUNTEERS (Army) 105 people

CONSERVATION CORPS 561 people

YOUTH SERVICE CORPS 64 people

ACTIVITY IN THE COMMUNITY (still counted as unemployed) 271 people