NZ unemployment

NZ: Unemployment rate rises

TVNZ,

3 May, 2012

New Zealand's unemployment rate unexpectedly rose in the first quarter after the labour force swelled to a three-year high as more people started looking for work in what has been a tight job market.

The kiwi dollar fell after the data was released.

Live exchange rate:

The unemployment rate rose 0.3 percentage points to 6.7% in the three months ended March 31, from a revised 6.4% in the prior quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand's household labour force survey.

That is higher than the 6.3% forecast in a Reuters survey of economists.

While the number of unemployed people climbed 6.1% to 160,000, the labour force participation rate rose 0.6 percentage points to 68.8%, its second-highest reading on record and beating expectations of 68.3%. The number of people employed grew 0.4% to 2.23 million in the quarter, ahead of the 0.3% growth forecast.

"We saw increases in both the number of people in work and the number out there looking for work in the March 2012 quarter," industry and labour statistics manager Diane Ramsay said in a statement.

"This meant participation in the labour force rose to the highest level since its peak just over three years ago."

The New Zealand dollar fell to 80.68 US cents after the report from 80.84 cents immediately before.

Gains and falls

Most of the growth in unemployment was among women, who had a jobless rate at 7.1%, while jobs growth was primarily among men, with the employment rate rise half a percentage point to 70.2%.

The mixed data comes after Euro-zone jobs figures showed that region's unemployment rate hit a 15-year high 10.9% in the March quarter, and ahead of US non-farm payrolls, where economists are picking the world's biggest economy added 175,000 jobs last month.

Local government figures earlier this week showed tepid wage inflation in the first quarter and flat jobs growth in the Quarterly Employment Survey.

New Zealand's jobs growth has been in part-time positions, which grew 2.5% in the quarter to a record-high 531,000. That follows on from the December quarter, which showed a 3.2% pick-up in part-time work, which stoked the jobs market at the tail-end of last year.

Full-time employment shrank 0.2% in the period to 1.7 million, the lowest level since September 2010.

The level of underemployment, which is part-time workers who would like to work more hours, rose to 2,500 to 107,600 people in the quarter.

The number of seasonally adjusted hours worked in the quarter rose 0.1% to 73.88 million in the quarter.

The arts, recreation and other services industry showed the biggest gain in people employed, rising to 139,900 from 126,200 in the December quarter, followed by 3,200 gains in both transport, postal and warehousing, and rental, hiring and real estate services industries.

The number of people employed in construction fell to 174,600 from 178,800, while education and training fell to 192,900 from 199,300.

Youth aged 15 to 24 not in employment, education or training (NEET) rose to 13.6% in the quarter from 13.1% in the December quarter.

Auckland unemployment climbed to 7.9% from 6.7% in the prior quarter, with an increase in the participation rate to 69.1% from 68.7%. The Manawatu-Wanganui region posted the highest unemployment rate at 8.9%, while Southland joblessness was the lowest at 4.4%.

The rate of unemployed Pacific people rose to a record-high 16% from 13.8% in December, while Maori unemployment rose to 13.9% from 13.4%.

New Zealand's unemployment rate was the 12th lowest with Iceland, behind Germany's 5.7%, and ahead of Chile's and the Czech Republic's 6.8%.

NZ agricultural export prices may continue to fall

A broad-based fall in prices for New Zealand's agricultural exports may continue in coming months as dairy prices fall and demand from China softens.

Radio NZ,

3 May, 2012

The ANZ Bank's commodity price index fell 4.5% in April, to the lowest level in 18 months.

Prices for sheepmeat fell sharply, and wool, dairy, aluminium and beef prices also slipped markedly.

Translated into New Zealand dollar earnings, commodity prices eased 4% to the lowest level in two-and-a-half years. The prices have fallen 21% from the peak recorded in March last year.

ANZ economist Steve Edwards says a 2.4% fall in dairy prices at Fonterra's online auction on Wednesday will push commodity prices even lower next month, but it's difficult to forecast what'll happen after that.

He says dairy makes up nearly 43% of the index so it's got a huge bearing and a lot will depend on the level of demand from China.

Mr Edwards says there's also a weakness in sheepmeat prices which reflects an oversupply, as there was some consumer resistance to high prices previously and now increased imports are arriving from places such as Australia.

He says wool prices reflect a weakening demand not only from China but also from India and Europe.