Statistics New Zealand has released labour force data for the September quarter, which reveals that the seasonally adjusted number of unemployed people rose by 37,000 to reach 151,000, as the impact of COVID-19 hit the labour market. It was the largest quarterly rise in unemployment since the series began in 1986:
In the September 2020 quarter:
There were 37,000 more unemployed people, an increase of 32.5 percent since the June 2020 quarter.
Applications for the eight-week Wage Subsidy Extension were open until 1 September 2020 and until 3 September 2020 for the two-week Resurgence Wage subsidy.
There were 22,000 fewer employed people this quarter than in the June 2020 quarter.
The underutilisation rate rose to 13.2 percent.
Hours worked nearly bounced back from record falls during lockdown.
Wages showed growth this quarter…
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Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
