Further signs emerged today of an economy on the turn, with a larger than expected drop in unemployment numbers.The Household Labour Force Survey released this morning by Statistics New Zealand shows unemployment fell to 6.4% in the September quarter. Th
Further signs emerged today of an economy on the turn, with a larger than expected drop in unemployment numbers.
The Household Labour Force Survey released this morning by Statistics New Zealand shows unemployment fell to 6.4% in the September quarter. The consensus market forecast was for a 6.7% unemployment rate, after a 6.9% rate in the June quarter.
The numbers in employment increased by 23,000 (or 1%) but most of the increase is males – 21,000 of this.
More women out of work
Looking at unemployment, female unemployment actually increased to by 5000, to 7.2%, up from 6.8%. The male unemployment rate fell by 10,000 to 5.7%.
A look at the industries where changes are taking place at least partly explains why.
Mining is up 7.4%, transport postal and warehousing is up 6%, and agriculture forestry and fishing is up just under 4%.
The largest single drop however was also in a male dominated industry – construction, where the numbers employed fell 5.4%.
It is more complicated than that though.
Agriculture forestry and fishing, despite growing overall, is apparently employing fewer women – the numbers dropped just under 1%.
Public administration and safety – where overall employment numbers fell just under 1.6%, saw an increase in male employees of 2.4% and a drop in female employees of 7.4%. Healthcare and social assistance – also a largely female- dominated sector – also saw an increase in the number of male employees and a drop in the number of females (and an overall drop in numbers of 0.3%)
