New Zealand’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged in the September quarter of 2022 when compared to the same period a year ago, according to data from Statistics New Zealand.

When compared to the previous quarter, the unemployment rate also remained unchanged.

While the unemployment rate remained level, the underutilisation rate, a broader measure of spare labour capacity, dipped slightly to 9.0%, from 9.2% last quarter.

The labour force participation rate rose to 71.7%, up 0.8% over the quarter and up 0.5% over the year. The employment rate rose to 69.3%, up 0.7% over the quarter and up 0.5% over the year. Both are the highest rates recorded since the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) began in 1986.

Meanwhile, feelings of job security rose in the September 2022 quarter, with 52.8% of employed people (who were able to assess their job security) saying there was almost no chance they would involuntarily lose their job or business in the next 12 months, compared with 45.6% in the same quarter last year.

“Strong feelings of job security coincided with increasing numbers of people working in permanent roles,” Statistics New Zealand work and wellbeing statistics senior manager Becky Collett said.

Over the year, there were 46,100 more permanent employees and 12,400 fewer fixed-term employees (not seasonally adjusted) in the labour force.

In the year to the September 2022 quarter, all salary and wage rates (including overtime), as measured by the labour cost index, increased 3.7%, compared with 3.4% in the year to the June 2022 quarter.

Average total weekly earnings (including overtime) per full-time equivalent employee, as measured by the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES), rose 7.9% in the year to the September 2022 quarter.

Average ordinary time hourly earnings in the Survey rose 7.4% in the year to the September 2022 quarter.

The total seasonally adjusted number of hours usually worked rose 1.4% over the year, to reach 108.2 million.

The seasonally adjusted number of hours actually worked was 95.8 million, up 8.9% over the year, the third largest annual increase in the series.