New Zealand Q2 employment data

Unemployment rate for Q2: 5.9%

  • expected 5.9%, prior was 5.8%

Employment change for Q2 q/q: +0.3%

  • expected +0.5%, prior was +0.6%, revised from 0.7%

Employment change for Q2 y/y: +3.0%

  • expected +3.4%, prior was +3.2%

Participation rate for Q2: 69.3%

  • expected 69.6%, prior was 69.5%, revised from 69.6%

Average hourly earnings for Q2: +1.2%

  • expected +0.5%, prior was +0.2%

Private wages including overtime for Q2: +0.5%

  • expected 0.5%, prior was 0.3%

Private wages excluding overtime for Q2: +0.5%

  • expected 0.5%, prior was 0.3%

-

NZD is down a few points on the data. Some disappointment on the lower than expected jobs growth and the lower than expected participation rate

-

Comments from Statistics New Zealand (labour market and household statistics manager Diane Ramsay)

  • "Even though employment grew over the quarter, population growth was greater, which resulted in a lower overall employment rate for New Zealand"
  • "Despite lower quarterly growth, this is still the 11th consecutive quarter of employment growth, making it the second-longest period of growth since the period between 1992 and 1996"
  • "This is the first time since the December 2013 quarter that the construction industry has not been the largest contributor to annual growth in employment"

Annual wage inflation, as measured by the labour cost index, was 1.6 percent, compared with annual consumer price inflation of 0.3 percent.