NZ unemployment steady

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Thursday 8th November 2001

There's been no change in the latest unemployment rate which remained at 5.2% in the September quarter.

Statistics New Zealand says the rate is the same level as the June 2001 quarter. The last time it was below 5.2% was March 1988 when it was 4.8%.

The latest seasonally adjusted figures show the level of employment increased marginally in the September quarter by 6,000 or 0.3% to 1.825 million while unemployment levels have continued to decline, down 1,000 or 1% to $100,000.

The number of those not in the labour force has increased by 3,000 to 996,000, while the labour force participation rate is unchanged at 65.9%.

Social Services and Employment Minister, Steve Maharey, has welcomed the latest figures.

"We should celebrate the fact that there are more New Zealanders in paid work than at any time in our past.

"In the year ended September employment grew by 39,000 people. That is a clear indication of the underlying strength of the economy going into September."

However Mr Maharey says the latest results will not have captured the impact of the September 11 terrorist attacks as they occurred only three weeks before the end of the quarter.

"The Quarterly Employment Survey results, released earlier this week, suggest that there has been some softening in the labour market, and the challenge now is to maintain a sustainable level of economic activity in the face of considerable uncertainty about the international economy.

"Already there is some evidence of a slow-down in some sectors as a direct result of the events of September 11. We will not be immune to negative global developments, but the New Zealand economy is better placed to cope now, than it was in some past episodes of global slow-down."

It's now ten years since New Zealand's unemployment rate peaked at 10.9% in September 1991.

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