The unemployment rate increased to 5.2% in the December 2016 quarter (up from 4.9% in the previous quarter) while employment and the labour force continued to grow, says Statistics New Zealand.
The retail trade, accommodation, and food services industry was the largest contributor to job growth in the latest quarter.
This result was followed closely by the construction and the professional services industries.
“The December quarter saw a significant number of people enter the workforce,” says labour and income statistics manager Mark Gordon.
“But while the number of people in employment has risen, so has the number of unemployed people, meaning there were more people available to work, and who had either actively sought work or had a new job to start within the next four weeks,” says Gordon.
The labour force participation rate increased 0.4 percentage points over the latest quarter, to reach an all-time high of 70.5%.
Over the quarter, 25,900 more people were underutilised (not seasonally adjusted). The increase came from more people being unemployed, and more people actively seeking work but not currently being available to work.
Employment grew 0.8% in the December 2016 quarter, with 19,000 more people employed. This result followed a 1.3% increase in jobs in the September 2016 quarter.
Full-time work rose 1.6% in the December quarter, with an extra 32,000 people employed full-time. In contrast, part-time employment fell 2.2%, down 12,000 people.
“Although employment has grown, the growth in wages has remained steady,” says Gordon.
Annual wage inflation, as measured by the labour cost index, was 1.6% in the December 2016 quarter. Annual wage inflation has been 1.5 to 1.6% for the last seven quarters.
Average hourly earnings, as measured by the quarterly employment survey, increased 1.3% for the year, the lowest increase since the year to the September 2010 quarter.
