Unemployment goes up

Unemployment exceeds 100,000
LATEST: Economists seem prepared to dismiss a shock rise in employment to record levels as a statistical anomaly and say the jobs market looks bleak in the near future. Contrary to all expectations, Statistics New Zealand's Household Labour Force Survey for the December quarter showed that the number of Kiwis in work rose 0.9 percent to a new high of 2.19 million. However, a number of the extra jobs were part-time. Closer to expectations, but on the low side, was a rise in the number of unemployed to 105,000 from 94,000. That's the highest number out of work in over six years and brings the unemployment rate up to 4.6 percent from 4.2 percent. The apparent contradiction whereby both employment and unemployment levels rose can be explained partly through population growth due to migration and also by more people entering the workforce. The labour force "participation rate" rose by 0.6 percent to 69.3 percent in the quarter. JP Morgan economist Helen Kevans said she believed the sharp jump in part-time workers was owing to worker hours being cut back, or previously non-working members of the household returning to the workforce in an effort to make financial ends meet.

More minimum wage earners will need to stretch their pay further to cover unemployed members of family which is another reason why we need to increase the minimum wage. We are almost going to double our unemployment rate within 12 months, that has a massive negative social cost and what is National doing other than April fools day tax cuts for the rich, raising truancy fines to $3000 and allowing junk food back into schools. Un-fucking-believable. How's that Daddy State 'change' going?