Stats NZ has released its latest labour market statistics which showed unemployment had risen to 4.8%, a four-year high.
It is now almost as high as December 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, when it was 4.9%.
“The unemployment rate has grown over the last two years, rising from 3.2% in the September 2022 quarter to 4.8% this quarter,” Stats NZ’s labour market statistics manager Deb Brunning said.
However, the employment rate was not as high as many economists predicted, with the majority saying it would sit at 5%.
The Stats NZ shows the number of unemployed people had increased by 24.2% in the past year, to 144,900, while the data showed people were remaining unemployed for longer.
Many were also opting out of the labour force, with the number of people not in the force growing by 57,000.
“There are many reasons why a jobless person might not be in the labour force rather than unemployed, including retirement, discouragement, study, or being permanently unable to work,” Brunning said.
