Good news for immigrants? They need to get more workers from somewhere! The publication this is from is full of interesting titbits... www.jobsletter.org.nz
NZ UNEMPLOYMENT: LOWEST IN THE WORLD
New Zealand has posted what is currently the world's lowest rate of unemployment. The 3.6% rate is the best in the OECD, and the lowest ever recorded since the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) began in 1986. The NZ Institute of Economic Research, that has data going back 50 years, says the rate is the lowest since September 1985.
Prime Minister Helen Clark says the country is on a roll and that everyone should take credit. Clark: "New Zealanders always take pride in being the best in the world and first in the world. These figures are truly spectacular."
Two-thirds of the 30,000 new jobs were part-time and women took up most of these. The expansion of part-time work appears to be because full-time workers have become more and more difficult to find. ANZ chief economist John McDermott says employers are now looking at alternatives like job sharing to fill their vacancies. McDermott: "There are a lot of experienced and qualified women out there who can't work full-time because of other commitments."
We include our regular Statistics That Matter summary in this issue of The Jobs Letter. Some highlights:
the low unemployment rate was fuelled by strong job growth up 1.6% in the quarter the strongest job growth quarter ever recorded by the HLFS;
there were some 87,000 jobs created over the last year;
the percentage of women participating in the work force reached a record high of 60.8%;
the number of people unemployed fell by 3,000 over the quarter and by 18,000 over the year;
long-term unemployment has fallen by a third;
Pakeha and Pacific People's unemployment dropped, but Maori unemployment rose.