The Jobs Letter — Statistics That Matter

No.207
24 May 2004

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 2004

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 2004 .

Official Unemployment in NZ

ONE IN TWENTY THREE PEOPLE OFFICIALLY UNEMPLOYED IN NZ

OFFICIAL NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED IN NZ
March 2004 seasonally adjusted
87,000 people

Numbers of Unemployed
mar04smallunemployment.gif - 2698 Bytes

OFFICIAL RATE OF UNEMPLOYED
March 2004 seasonally adjusted
4.3% OR ONE IN 23 PEOPLE

Unemployment Rate
mar04smallunemploymentrate.gif - 2540 Bytes

RISE IN NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED
IN LAST THREE MONTHS
December 2003 to March 2004
2,000 people

. DROP IN NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED
IN THE LAST YEAR
March 2003 to March 2004
11,900 people

Source — Statistics NZ

OFFICIALLY UNEMPLOYED IN THE REGIONS March 2004
`NORTHLAND`	`4.2%`	`or one in 24 people`
`AUCKLAND`	`4.4%`	`or one in 23 people`
`WAIKATO`	`3.9%`	`or one in 26 people`
`BAY OF PLENTY`	`6.7%`	`or one in 15 people`
`GISBORNE - HAWKES BAY`	`5.7%`	`or one in 18 people`
`TARANAKI`	`5.1%`	`or one in 20 people`
`WANGANUI - MANAWATU`	`5.9%`	`or one in 17 people`
`WELLINGTON`	`4.7%`	`or one in 21 people`
`NELSON - MARLBOROUGH TASMAN - WEST COAST`	`2.7%`	`or one in 37 people`
`CANTERBURY`	`4.4%`	`or one in 23 people`
`OTAGO`	`4.4%`	`or one in 23 people`
`SOUTHLAND`	`2.9%`	`or one in 34 people`
Source — Statistics NZ

REGIONS WITH A DROP IN UNEMPLOYMENT
IN THE LAST THREE MONTHS
December 2003 to March 2004
Northland Waikato Wellington Nelson/Marlborough/ Tasman/West Coast Otago Southland

REGIONS WITH NO CHANGE IN UNEMPLOYMENT
Gisborne/Hawkes Bay

REGIONS WITH A RISE IN UNEMPLOYMENT
Auckland Bay of Plenty Taranaki Wanganui/Manawatu Canterbury

Registrations at Ministry of Social Development
(formerly Winz)

PEOPLE REGISTERED AS JOB SEEKERS
WITH MINISTRY OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
March 2004
117,919

NOTIFIED VACANCIES
for month of March 2004
Figures Unavailable

Source — Ministry of Social Development

The Underemployed

March 2004
85,400 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 2004 seasonally adjusted
1,956,000 people

Numbers of Employed
mar04smallemployment.gif - 2693 Bytes

RISE IN THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN JOBS IN LAST 3 MONTHS
December 2003 to March 2004
17,000

RISE IN THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN JOBS IN LAST YEAR
March 2003 to March 2004
61,000 people

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

SECTORS WITH A DROP IN EMPLOYMENT IN LAST YEAR
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing.

Full-time and Part-time

GAIN IN FULL-TIME EMPLOYED
IN THE PAST YEAR
March 2003 to March 2004
46,000 people

Full Time Employment
mar04smallfulltimeemployment.gif - 2667 Bytes

GAIN IN PART-TIME EMPLOYED
IN THE PAST YEAR
March 2003 to March 2004
5,000 people

Part Time Employment
mar04smallparttimeemployment.gif - 2773 Bytes

...	`Full-time`	`Part-time`
`Men`	`954,900 (89%)`	`115,900 (11%)`
`Women`	`589,000 (65%)`	`299,200 (34%)`
`Total`	`1,543,900`	`415,100`
`Overall %`	`79%`	`21%`
Source — Statistics NZ

Global Unemployment Rates

SPAIN 11.2%
FRANCE 9.3%
GERMANY 9.4%
ITALY 8.5%
CANADA 7.4%
OECD AVERAGE 6.9%
UNITED STATES 5.6%
AUSTRALIA 5.9%
JAPAN 5.0%
BRITAIN 4.8%
NEW ZEALAND 4.3%

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 THIRTEEN 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 2004
166,200 people

OFFICIAL RATE OF JOBLESS
March 2004
7.8% OR ONE IN 14 PEOPLE

RISE IN NUMBER OF JOBLESS
IN LAST THREE MONTHS
December 2003 to March 2004
200

DROP IN NUMBER OF JOBLESS
IN THE LAST YEAR
March 2003 to March 2004
8,400 people

Source — Statistics NZ

JOBLESS IN THE REGIONS March 2004
`NORTHLAND`	`10.2%`	`or one in 10 people`
`AUCKLAND`	`7.3%`	`or one in 14 people`
`WAIKATO`	`6.6%`	`or one in 15 people`
`BAY OF PLENTY`	`10.3`	`or one in 10 people`
`GISBORNE - HAWKES BAY`	`10.3%`	`or one in 10 people`
`TARANAKI`	`9.5%`	`or one in 11 people`
`WANGANUI - MANAWATU`	`9.5`	`or one in 11 people`
`WELLINGTON`	`7.8%`	`or one in 13 people`
`NELSON - MARLBOROUGH TASMAN - WEST COAST`	`5.6%`	`or one in 18 people`
`CANTERBURY`	`7.2%`	`or one in 14 people`
`OTAGO`	`8.6%`	`or one in 12 people`
`SOUTHLAND`	`6.2%`	`or one in 16 people`
Source — Statistics NZ

Labour Force Participation Rate

LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATE
March 2004
66.6%

Source — Statistics NZ

Race / Ethnic

MAORI RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT
March 2004
9.4% or one in 11 Maori people

PACIFIC ISLAND RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT
March 2004
7.9% or one in 13 Pacific Island people

NZ EUROPEAN (PAKEHA) RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT
March 2004
3.4% or one in 29 NZ European (Pakeha) people

Unemployment Rate
By Ethnic Group
mar04smallunemploymentbyethnic.gif - 3206 Bytes

Source — Statistics NZ

Age Rates and Long-term Unemployment

YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
-- AGED 15-19 YEARS
March 2004
12.7% or one in 8 young people

MATURE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
-- AGED 50-65 YEARS
March 2004
3.2% or one in 31 mature people

LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED (over 6 months)
March 2004
14,500 people 16% or one in 6 of the unemployed

LONGER-TERM UNEMPLOYED (over 2 years)
March 2004
2,700 people 3% or one in 35 of the unemployed

VERY LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED (over 5 years)
March 2004
1,100 people 1% or one in 85 of the unemployed

Source — Statistics NZ

The Schemes and Subsidised Jobs

TASKFORCE GREEN 806

JOB PLUS 104

JOB PLUS MAORI 3,736

JOB CONNECTION 75

ENTERPRISE ALLOWANCE 58

ENTERPRISE ALLOWANCE with capitalisation 180

TRAINING OPPORTUNITY PROGRAMME (TOPS) COURSES) 7,200 people

YOUTH TRAINING (T.E.C.) 4,844 people

LIMITED SERVICE VOLUNTEERS (Army) 170 people

CONSERVATION CORPS 1,364 people

YOUTH SERVICE CORPS 224 people

ACTIVITY IN THE COMMUNITY (still counted as unemployed) 532