New Zealand’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 3.6% in the June 2023 quarter from 3.3% in the same period a year ago, according to research from Statistics New Zealand.

When compared to the previous quarter (March 2022 quarter) the unemployment rate increased by 0.2%.

According to Yahoo Finance, economists expected an unemployment rate of 3.5%. The Reserve Bank has signalled it has raised rates sufficiently to tame inflation and the economy has stalled, suggesting the jobless rate should continue to rise.

The underutilisation rate, a broad measure of spare labour capacity that includes those unemployed, underemployed, and in the potential labour force, increased by 0.7% over the year to 9.8% in the June quarter. The underutilisation rate was also up from 9.1% (revised) the prior quarter.

“Despite the strong quarterly increase, the June 2023 quarter underutilisation rate remains relatively low compared with historic averages,” work and wellbeing statistics senior manager Becky Collett said.

In the year to the June 2023 quarter, the number of people employed increased 113,000 (4.0%) to 2,927,000. The employment rate reached 69.8%, the highest rate recorded by the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) since the series began in 1986. The employment rate was also up by 0.3% over the quarter.

In the year to the June 2023 quarter, the labour force participation rate reached 72.4%, the highest rate recorded since the HLFS began in 1986. It was up 1.5% over the year and 0.4% over the quarter.

In the year to the June 2023 quarter, the number of people not in the labour force decreased by 36,000 and the total labour force increased by 127,000.

In the year to the June 2023 quarter, the working-age population increased by 91,000. The working-age population includes all usually resident individuals aged 15 and over, irrespective of their current participation in the labour force.

In the year to the June 2023 quarter, all salary and wage rates (including overtime), as measured by the labour cost index, remained at 4.3%.

Average ordinary time hourly earnings in the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) increased 6.9% in the year to the June 2023 quarter.

Meanwhile, average total weekly earnings (including overtime) per full-time equivalent employee, as measured by the QES, rose 6.4% in the year to the June 2023 quarter.