Statistics New Zealand has this morning released its labour force data for the March quarter, with employment growth strengthening, but the unemployment rate rising to 5.7% from 5.4% (revised) in the December quarter. The key changes are outlined in the below table:
As shown above, employment rose 1.2% in the March quarter, whereas the unemployment rate jumped to 5.7%, driven by a 0.5% increase in the labour force participation rate.
