Employees, jobs, paid hours all fall

Full-time equivalent employee numbers, filled jobs and seasonally adjusted total paid hours all fell in the year to September, Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) says.

It is the fourth consecutive quarter that all three labour market measures have declined on an annual basis.

The quarterly employment survey (QES) published today showed that in the year to September employment as measured by the number of full-time equivalent employees fell 3.5 per cent, while filled jobs were down 2.6 per cent.

The manufacturing industry was the main contributor to both those annual decreases, SNZ said.

Seasonally adjusted gross earnings rose 1.6 per cent for the year to September, while seasonally adjusted total paid hours fell 3 per cent.

Despite the fall in paid hours, total gross earnings rose over the year, leading to a 4.9 per cent rise in the average total hourly earnings for the year to September.

For the September quarter, seasonally adjusted total paid hours rose 0.2 per cent from the previous three months to 49 million, full time equivalent employees fell 1 per cent to 1.29m, and filled jobs were down 0.8 per cent to 1.66m.

Seasonally adjusted total gross earnings rose 1.8 per cent from the June quarter to $1.24 billion.

The labour cost index (LCI), also published today, put salary and wage rates (including overtime) 2.1 per cent higher in the September quarter than a year earlier.

The latest annual rise is the lowest since the December 2002 quarter.

In the September quarter, salary and wage rates (including overtime) rose 0.5 per cent, following a 0.3 per cent increase in the June quarter, according to the LCI.

Salary and wage rates (including overtime) for the private sector were up 2 per cent in the year to the September, and up 0.4 per cent in the September quarter.

Public sector salary and wage rates (including overtime) rose 2.9 per cent in the year to the September quarter, and 1.1 per cent in the September quarter.

QES average earnings statistics reflect not only changes in pay rates, but also compositional and other changes across and within the paid workforce.

In comparison, the LCI measures changes in salary and wage rates for a fixed quantity and quality of labour input.

- NZPA