The unemployment rate of New Zealanders aged 15-24 stood at 9.6% in the September quarter, a decrease from 13.2% during the same period last year but still three times the national average according to data from Statistics New Zealand.

New Zealand’s unemployment rate stood at 3.2% during the quarter while the rate for people aged 25-64 stood at 2.3%.

“Young people play a vital role in the labour force, but our data shows that they experience much higher unemployment rates than people aged 25-64 and the overall population,” Stats NZ labour market manager Andrew Neal said.

Stats NZ noted that youth have been strongly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Sharp annual rises in youth unemployment in the September and December 2020 quarters brought their unemployment rates up to 13.2 and 13.8%, respectively. However, over the year to the September 2021 quarter, the youth unemployment rate had a sharp and significant drop, bringing it close to pre-Covid-19 levels.

Since the early 2000s, the unemployment rate of the 15–24 age group has been approximately three to four times that of the 25–64 age group, and usually over two-and-a-half times that of the overall working-age population.

Over the year to September 2021, the youth unemployment rate followed the decreasing trends of the national and the 25-64 age group’s rates, however, it did not decrease as quickly.

According to Stats NZ, youth in New Zealand are more dynamic in the labour market and are usually unemployed for shorter periods. Long-term unemployment is significantly higher among those in older age groups, it added.

In the September 2021 quarter, 38.2% of unemployed people aged 25–64 were looking for work for more than six months, compared with 21.4% of unemployed people aged 15–24.

“A contributing factor to why youth unemployment rates are higher than the national average could be that a lot of unemployed teenagers are in education,” Neal said. “Being in education means only having fixed periods of availability for work, which increases the challenge of finding a suitable job.”

In the September 2021 quarter, out of 23,100 unemployed teenagers (aged 15–19), 12,200 (53%) were in education or training. However, amongst older youth (aged 20–24) who were unemployed, 20% were engaged in education and training.

In the year to September 2021, the number of youths who were NEET (not in employment, education, or training) decreased by 6,400. This annual decrease came mainly from youth who were not in the labour force due to caregiving responsibilities.