Bay employment rate increases 4pc

Photo/file

More people in the Bay of Plenty are finding employment, figures show.

According to the data released by Statistics New Zealand, the unemployment rate in the region has dropped to 5.7 per cent from 6.6 per cent the previous quarter. The employment rate also increased by 4 per cent on the previous quarter to 64.2 per cent.

In the December 2014 quarter, there were 131,400 people in jobs. Meanwhile, there were 8000 unemployed people in the Bay of Plenty.

Drake branch team leader Halee Reid said there had been a noticeable improvement in the Bay of Plenty job market.

"I have definitely seen the employment rate increase and that is based on the number of people we have been able to put into work recently," she said.

"We have had more interest from clients and we have been able to place more people."

Ms Reid said wages were also on the rise in the Bay.

"Wages are very slowly increasing. Obviously, Tauranga was known as $10 Tauranga and then it moved to minimum wage Tauranga and it is increasing from there. That is put down to employee pressure basically."

Despite the increases, Ms Reid said job availability had not kept up with the demand for employment.

"There are more people who want to live in Tauranga than there are jobs available. That is traditionally an issue in Tauranga.

"It is a very popular place to move to," she said.

Nationally the unemployment rate rose to 5.7 per cent in the three months to December 2014, the Statistics New Zealand data revealed.

Meanwhile, the employment rate was at 65.7 per cent - up 1 per cent on the same quarter in 2013.

In the December 2014 quarter, 143,000 people were out of a job in New Zealand. This compared with the 2,375,000 who were employed.

The number of unemployed men rose by 5000 to 66,000 and the number of unemployed women rose by 3000 to 77,000 in this quarter.

Labour market and households statistics manager Diane Ramsay said there was a discrepancy in the number of people wanting jobs, versus the number of jobs available.

"Employment didn't keep up with the record number of people entering the labour force, so even though employment growth was also strong over the quarter, the unemployment rate increased."

Over the latest quarter, the strong rise in employment by 28,000 people did not keep up with the record number of people entering the labour force - increasing the number of people unemployed.

New Zealanders were earning an average ordinary wage of $28.77 per hour - a 2.6 per cent increase. There was a 1.8 per cent wage increase in the private sector up from the December 2013 quarter, while the public sector lagged behind with an increase of 1.2 per cent.

These figures look at the change in pay rates for similar jobs completed to the same standard. Over the year to the December 2014 quarter, the largest contributors to employment growth were Auckland, up by 22,300 people in jobs, Waikato (up 17,400), Canterbury (up 15,800) and Bay of Plenty (up 15,600).