The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, as measured by the Household Labour Force Survey, was 4.6% in the June 2024 quarter, compared with 4.4% last quarter and 3.6% in the June 2023 quarter, according to the latest data by Statistics New Zealand.

Over the year to the June quarter, unemployment rose by 33,000 to 143,000.

“Unemployment has been increasing since 2022, leaving the current quarter’s unemployment rate the highest since March 2021,” Labour Market Manager Deb Brunning said in a press release. “Recent rises in unemployment align with other economic indicators, including an increasing number of benefit recipients, a decreasing number of job vacancies and declining GDP (gross domestic product) per capita.”

In the June 2024 quarter, when compared with the June 2023 quarter, the youth unemployment rates were 20.7%, up from 15.1%, for 15 to 19-year-olds and 8.0%, up from 5.8%, for 20 to 24-year-olds.

Meanwhile, annually, the seasonally adjusted NEET rate (the proportion of young people not in employment, education or training) increased to 12.8% from 11.7%.

Annually, unemployment for people aged 15 to 24 years rose 14,400, and underutilisation rose 29,300 (not seasonally adjusted).

“Young people accounted for almost half the increase in unemployment and underutilisation between the June 2023 and 2024 quarters,” Brunning said.

Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted underutilisation rate was 11.8% in the June 2024 quarter, up from 11.2% last quarter and 9.9% a year ago. Over the year, the total number of underutilised people rose by 66,000 to 377,000.

Underutilisation is a broad measure of untapped labour market capacity that includes unemployed and underemployed people, along with the potential labour force.

Overall, annual wage cost inflation was 4.3% in the June 2024 quarter, while average ordinary time hourly earnings increased 5.0% annually to NZD 41.52 (USD 25.00).

“The effects of pay increases for some health workers, along with school therapists and early-childhood education staff, have all come through in public sector wage growth this quarter, in addition to other settlements seen over the year,” Brunning said.