The Jobs Letter — Statistics That Matter

No.166
17 May 2002

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

excel.gif - 1224 Bytes
A Microsoft Excel file of all the data behind these figures can be downloaded from here.

Employment and
Unemployment in NZ

March 2002

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 2002.

Official Unemployment in NZ

ONE IN NINETEEN PEOPLE OFFICIALLY UNEMPLOYED IN NZ

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED IN NZ
March 2002 seasonally adjusted
104,000 people

OFFICIAL RATE OF UNEMPLOYED
March 2002 seasonally adjusted
5.3% OR ONE IN 19 PEOPLE

DROP IN NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED
IN LAST THREE MONTHS
Dec 2001 to March 2002
1,000 people

. RISE IN NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED
IN THE LAST YEAR
March 2001 to March 2002
1,000 people

Source — Statistics NZ

OFFICIALLY UNEMPLOYED IN THE REGIONS March 2002
`NORTHLAND`	`10.5%`	`or one in 10 people`
`AUCKLAND`	`4.9%`	`or one in 20 people`
`WAIKATO`	`6.1`	`or one in 16 people`
`BAY OF PLENTY`	`7.2%`	`or one in 14 people`
`GISBORNE - HAWKES BAY`	`4.9%`	`or one in 20 people`
`TARANAKI`	`4.9%`	`or one in 20 people`
`WANGANUI - MANAWATU`	`6.2%`	`or one in 16 people`
`WELLINGTON`	`5.8%`	`or one in 17 people`
`NELSON - MARLBOROUGH TASMAN - WEST COAST`	`3.5%`	`or one in 29 people`
`CANTERBURY`	`5.5%`	`or one in 18 people`
`OTAGO`	`6.5%`	`or one in 15 people`
`SOUTHLAND`	`3.7%`	`or one in 27 people`
Source — Statistics NZ

REGIONS WITH A DROP IN UNEMPLOYMENT
IN THE LAST THREE MONTHS
Dec 2001 to March 2002
Gisborne/Hawkes Bay Bay of Plenty Taranaki Nelson/Marlborough/ Tasman/West Coast Southland

REGIONS WITH NO CHANGE IN UNEMPLOYMENT
None

REGIONS WITH A RISE IN UNEMPLOYMENT
Northland Auckland Waikato Wanganui/Manawatu Wellington Canterbury Otago

Registrations at Winz
(Ministry of Social Development)

PEOPLE REGISTERED AS JOB SEEKERS
WITH MINISTRY OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
March 2002
173,280

NOTIFIED VACANCIES
for month of March 2002
Figures Unavailable

Source — Ministry of Social Development

The Underemployed

March 2002
106,600 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 2002 seasonally adjusted
1,867,000 people

RISE IN THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN JOBS IN LAST 3 MONTHS
Dec 2001 to March 2002
24,000

RISE IN THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN JOBS IN LAST YEAR
March 2001 to March 2002
63,000 people

SECTORS WITH A RISE IN EMPLOYMENT IN LAST YEAR
Wholesale & Retail Trade, Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing, Construction, Transport, Storage & Communication, Business & Financial, Education, Health & Community Services,

SECTORS WITH A DROP IN EMPLOYMENT IN LAST YEAR
Manufacturing

Full-time and Part-time

GAIN IN FULL-TIME EMPLOYED
IN THE PAST YEAR
March 2001 to March 2002
30,000 people

Full Time Employment
march02smallfulltime.gif - 2473 Bytes

GAIN IN PART-TIME EMPLOYED
IN THE PAST YEAR
March 2001 to March 2002
14,000 people

Part Time Employment
march02smallpartime.gif - 2659 Bytes

...	`Full-time`	`Part-time`
`Men`	`910,000 (89%)`	`117,300 (11%)`
`Women`	`541,900 (64%)`	`300,700 (36%)`
`Total`	`1,451,900`	`418,100`
`Overall %`	`78%`	`22%`
Source — Statistics NZ

Global Unemployment Rates

SPAIN 12.9%
FRANCE 9.1%
ITALY 9.0%
GERMANY 8.1%
CANADA 7.7%
OECD AVERAGE 7.0%
AUSTRALIA 6.3%
UNITED STATES 6.0%
NEW ZEALAND 5.3%
JAPAN 5.2%
BRITAIN 5.0%

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 ELEVEN 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 2002
188,500 people

OFFICIAL RATE OF JOBLESS
March 2002
9.2% OR ONE IN 11 PEOPLE

RISE IN NUMBER OF JOBLESS
IN LAST THREE MONTHS
Dec 2001 to March 2002
4,900

RISE IN NUMBER OF JOBLESS
IN THE LAST YEAR
March 2001 to March 2002
9,700 people

Source — Statistics NZ

JOBLESS IN THE REGIONS March 2002
`NORTHLAND`	`17.5%`	`or one in 6 people`
`AUCKLAND`	`8.6%`	`or one in 12 people`
`WAIKATO`	`8.7%`	`or one in 11 people`
`BAY OF PLENTY`	`11.7`	`or one in 9 people`
`GISBORNE - HAWKES BAY`	`8.6%`	`or one in 12 people`
`TARANAKI`	`8.8%`	`or one in 11 people`
`WANGANUI - MANAWATU`	`9.2`	`or one in 11 people`
`WELLINGTON`	`8.8%`	`or one in 11 people`
`NELSON - MARLBOROUGH TASMAN - WEST COAST`	`6.8%`	`or one in 15 people`
`CANTERBURY`	`9.3%`	`or one in 11 people`
`OTAGO`	`9.9%`	`or one in 10 people`
`SOUTHLAND`	`6.7%`	`or one in 15 people`
Source — Statistics NZ

Labour Force Participation Rate

LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATE
March 2002
66.9%

Labour Force Participation Rate

Source — Statistics NZ

Race / Ethnic

MAORI RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT
March 2002
10.8% or one in 9 Maori people

PACIFIC ISLAND RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT
March 2002
9.7% or one in 10 Pacific Island people

NZ EUROPEAN (PAKEHA) RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT
March 2002
4.2% or one in 24 NZ European (Pakeha) people

Unemployment Rate
By Ethnic Group
march002ethnic.gif - 3031 Bytes

Source — Statistics NZ

Age Rates and Long-term Unemployment

YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
-- AGED 15-19 YEARS
March 2002
16.0% or one in 6 young people

MATURE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
-- AGED 50-65 YEARS
March 2002
3.9% or one in 26 mature people

LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED (over 6 months)
March 2002
27,200 people 26% or one in 4 of the unemployed

LONGER-TERM UNEMPLOYED (over 2 years)
March 2002
7,100 people 7% or one in 15 of the unemployed

VERY LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED (over 5 years)
March 2002
1,900 people 2% or one in 55 of the unemployed

Source — Statistics NZ

The Schemes and Subsidised Jobs

TASKFORCE GREEN 790

JOB PLUS 4,378

JOB PLUS MAORI 153

JOB CONNECTION 184

ENTERPRISE ALLOWANCE 61

ENTERPRISE ALLOWANCE with capitalisation 200

TRAINING OPPORTUNITY PROGRAMME (TOPS) COURSES) 7,784 people

YOUTH TRAINING (SKILL NZ ) 5,211 people

LIMITED SERVICE VOLUNTEERS (Army) 150 people

CONSERVATION CORPS 1,363 people

YOUTH SERVICE CORPS 237 people

ACTIVITY IN THE COMMUNITY (still counted as unemployed) 1,612