New Zealand first quarter employment report from Stats NZ

Unemployment rate: 4.2% ……… beat

  • expected 4.3%, prior was 4.3%

Employment change -0.2% q/q ……………. bad miss

  • expected 0.5%, prior was 0.1%

Employment change 1.5% y/y

  • expected 2.2%, prior was 2.3%

Participation rate 70.4

  • expected 70.9%, prior was 70.9%

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Data on wage growth … Average hourly earnings 1.1% ……….. beat

  • expected 0.8%, prior was 1.0%

Private wages including overtime 0.3% ………. miss

  • expected 0.5%, prior was 0.5%

Private wages excluding overtime 0.3% ………. miss

  • expected 0.5%, prior was 0.5%

The unemployment rate looks liks a nice beat, but with lower participation (by a good chunk) its not so good after all. And most of the rest of the numbers are not good, employment growth missed while wages missed also.

NZD marked down.

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Background here: