Unemployment rate reaches 5.0 percent

Revised 11 June 2009 – see erratum in Household Labour Force Survey: March 2009 quarter In seasonally adjusted terms, the labour market continued to weaken in the March 2009 quarter, with thenumber of people unemployed continuing to rise, Statistics New Zealand said today.

The unemploymentrate increased for the fifth consecutive quarter, to reach 5.0 percent. Both the labour force participationrate and the number of people employed fell.

The unemployment rate increased by 0.3 percentage points during the March 2009 quarter to reach a sixyear high of 5.0 percent.

The male unemployment rate increased by 0.5 percentage points, to 5.1 percent,while the female unemployment rate rose to 4.8 percent, from 4.7 percent in the December 2008 quarter.

The number of unemployed has increased by 7,000 during the March 2009 quarter to reach 114,000.

Sincethe March 2008 quarter, the number of people unemployed has risen by 29,000. The labour force participation rate has decreased by 0.7 percentage points to 68.4 percent during theMarch 2009 quarter, with falls for both females and males.

The number of people employed decreased during the March 2009 quarter, down by 25,000 (1.2 percent)to 2,181,000, with falls in both full-time and part-time employment. On an annual basis however, thenumber of people employed has increased by 17,000 (0.8 percent).

Geoff Bascand
Government Statistician
7 May 2009
END
See also the Hot Off The Press information release Household Labour Force Survey: March 2009 quarter