The Jobs Letter — Statistics That Matter

No.180
17 February 2003

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

December 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 December 2002.

Official Unemployment in NZ

ONE IN TWENTY PEOPLE OFFICIALLY UNEMPLOYED IN NZ

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED IN NZ
December 2002 seasonally adjusted
98,000 people

OFFICIAL RATE OF UNEMPLOYED
December 2002 seasonally adjusted
4.9% OR ONE IN 20 PEOPLE

DROP IN NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED
IN LAST THREE MONTHS
September 2002 to December 2002
8,000 people

. DROP IN NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED
IN THE LAST YEAR
December 2001 to December 2002
7,000 people

Source — Statistics NZ

OFFICIALLY UNEMPLOYED IN THE REGIONS December 2002
`NORTHLAND`	`8.5%`	`or one in 12 people`
`AUCKLAND`	`4.0%`	`or one in 25 people`
`WAIKATO`	`5.4`	`or one in 19 people`
`BAY OF PLENTY`	`6.6%`	`or one in 15 people`
`GISBORNE - HAWKES BAY`	`5.7%`	`or one in 18 people`
`TARANAKI`	`5.5%`	`or one in 18 people`
`WANGANUI - MANAWATU`	`3.8%`	`or one in 26 people`
`WELLINGTON`	`5.0%`	`or one in 20 people`
`NELSON - MARLBOROUGH TASMAN - WEST COAST`	`4.1%`	`or one in 24 people`
`CANTERBURY`	`4.2%`	`or one in 24 people`
`OTAGO`	`5.3%`	`or one in 19 people`
`SOUTHLAND`	`3.9%`	`or one in 26 people`
Source — Statistics NZ

REGIONS WITH A DROP IN UNEMPLOYMENT
IN THE LAST THREE MONTHS
September 2002 to December 2002
Auckland Taranaki Wanganui/Manawatu Bay of Plenty Canterbury Otago

REGIONS WITH NO CHANGE IN UNEMPLOYMENT
Waikato

REGIONS WITH A RISE IN UNEMPLOYMENT
Northland Gisborne/Hawkes Bay Wellington Nelson/Marlborough/ Tasman/West Coast Southland

Registrations at Ministry of Social Development
(formerly Winz)

PEOPLE REGISTERED AS JOB SEEKERS
WITH MINISTRY OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
December 2002
168,337

NOTIFIED VACANCIES
for month of December 2002
Figures Unavailable

Source — Ministry of Social Development

The Underemployed

December 2002
113,000 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
December 2002 seasonally adjusted
1,886,000 people

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RISE IN THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN JOBS IN LAST 3 MONTHS
September 2002 to December 2002
8,000

RISE IN THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN JOBS IN LAST YEAR
December 2001 to December 2002
44,000 people

SECTORS WITH A RISE IN EMPLOYMENT IN LAST YEAR
Wholesale & Retail Trade, Construction, Education, Business & Financial

SECTORS WITH A DROP IN EMPLOYMENT IN LAST YEAR
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing, Manufacturing, Health & Community Services,Transport, Storage & Communication,

Full-time and Part-time

GAIN IN FULL-TIME EMPLOYED
IN THE PAST YEAR
December 2001 to December 2002
40,000 people

Full Time Employment
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GAIN IN PART-TIME EMPLOYED
IN THE PAST YEAR
December 2001 to December 2002
2,000 people

Part Time Employment
dec02qtrsmallpartimeemployment.gif - 2675 Bytes

...	`Full-time`	`Part-time`
`Men`	`924,300 (89%)`	`114,000 (11%)`
`Women`	`556,000 (64%)`	`310,800 (36%)`
`Total`	`1,480,300`	`424,800`
`Overall %`	`78%`	`22%`
Source — Statistics NZ

Global Unemployment Rates

SPAIN 12.0%
ITALY 8.9%
FRANCE 8.9%
GERMANY 8.5%
CANADA 7.5%
OECD AVERAGE 7.1%
AUSTRALIA 6.2%
UNITED STATES 6.0%
JAPAN 5.5%
BRITAIN 5.1%
NEW ZEALAND 4.9%

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 TWELVE 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
December 2002
172,600 people

OFFICIAL RATE OF JOBLESS
December 2002
8.3% OR ONE IN 12 PEOPLE

DROP IN NUMBER OF JOBLESS
IN LAST THREE MONTHS
September 2002 to December 2002
4,000

DROP IN NUMBER OF JOBLESS
IN THE LAST YEAR
December 2001 to December 2002
11,000 people

Source — Statistics NZ

JOBLESS IN THE REGIONS December 2002
`NORTHLAND`	`14.0%`	`or one in 7 people`
`AUCKLAND`	`6.8%`	`or one in 15 people`
`WAIKATO`	`9.3%`	`or one in 11 people`
`BAY OF PLENTY`	`11.1`	`or one in 9 people`
`GISBORNE - HAWKES BAY`	`12.2%`	`or one in 8 people`
`TARANAKI`	`9.6%`	`or one in 10 people`
`WANGANUI - MANAWATU`	`6.9`	`or one in 14 people`
`WELLINGTON`	`8.4%`	`or one in 12 people`
`NELSON - MARLBOROUGH TASMAN - WEST COAST`	`6.6%`	`or one in 15 people`
`CANTERBURY`	`7.2%`	`or one in 14 people`
`OTAGO`	`10.9%`	`or one in 9 people`
`SOUTHLAND`	`7.0%`	`or one in 14 people`
Source — Statistics NZ

Labour Force Participation Rate

LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATE
December 2002
66.3%

Labour Force Participation Rate

dec02qtrsmalllfparticip.gif - 3013 Bytes

Source — Statistics NZ

Race / Ethnic

MAORI RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT
December 2002
11.4% or one in 9 Maori people

PACIFIC ISLAND RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT
December 2002
8.2% or one in 12 Pacific Island people

NZ EUROPEAN (PAKEHA) RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT
December 2002
3.3% or one in 30 NZ European (Pakeha) people

Unemployment Rate
By Ethnic Group
dec02ethnic.gif - 2941 Bytes

Source — Statistics NZ

Age Rates and Long-term Unemployment

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

MATURE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
-- AGED 50-65 YEARS
December 2002
3.2% or one in 31 mature people

LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED (over 6 months)
December 2002
25,500 people 26% or one in 4 of the unemployed

LONGER-TERM UNEMPLOYED (over 2 years)
December 2002
5,400 people 6% or one in 18 of the unemployed

VERY LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED (over 5 years)
December 2002
1,500 people 2% or one in 65 of the unemployed

Source — Statistics NZ

The Schemes and Subsidised Jobs

TASKFORCE GREEN 407

JOB PLUS 3,217

JOB PLUS MAORI 87

JOB CONNECTION 86

ENTERPRISE ALLOWANCE 48

ENTERPRISE ALLOWANCE with capitalisation 273

TRAINING OPPORTUNITY PROGRAMME (TOPS) COURSES) 7,824 people

YOUTH TRAINING (T.E.C.) 5,490 people

LIMITED SERVICE VOLUNTEERS (Army) 76 people

CONSERVATION CORPS 825 people

YOUTH SERVICE CORPS 126 people

ACTIVITY IN THE COMMUNITY (still counted as unemployed) 786