NZ Jobless Rate at 8-Year Low

New Zealand has recorded its best unemployment rate in almost eight years with third quarter figures falling to a better than expected 4.9%.

The jobless rate declined from a revised 5% in the June quarter, according to Stats NZ, taking it to its lowest point since December 2008, Newshub reported.

There were 3,000 fewer people unemployed than in the previous quarter and 10,000 fewer over the year.

Employment grew 1.4% in the quarter, outpacing a 0.5% gain economists were picking, with rental, hiring and real estate services adding 5,000 jobs in the period.

That was also faster than a 0.7% increase in the size of the working-age population, which helped drive up the participation rate to a record 70.1% under the new methodology.

“”The number of people employed in New Zealand was up 35,000, or 1.4%, in the September 2016 quarter,” labor and income statistics manager Mark Gordon said.

“This strong growth in employment, coupled with fewer unemployed people, pushed the unemployment rate below 5% for the first time in nearly eight years.”

Employment Minister Steven Joyce said more jobs and higher wages were helping Kiwi’s get ahead.

“For the first time Statistics New Zealand has recorded data on employment relationships which shows that 90% of people in paid employment are in permanent jobs. This confirms the vast majority of New Zealanders are in stable, long-term employment,” he said.

But Labor leader Andrew Little says figures that show an increase of 3,000 young people not in employment, education or training, taking the total to 74,000 in the September quarter.

“With house prices rising 13% annually, average rents increasing by $780 this year, and more young people being left behind, small movements in unemployment will be cold comfort to Kiwi families struggling to pay the bills,” he said.