The unemployment rate rose to a nine-year high 6.5 per cent in the September quarter, from 6 per cent in the previous three months.
The number of people unemployed reached its highest level in 15 years, rising 12,000 or 9 per cent during the September quarter to reach 150,000.
The rise in the unemployment rate was slightly above expectations, with the median forecast in a Reuters poll of economists having been for a rise to 6.4 per cent.
Better employment figures are expected to lag any return to growth in the wider economy, after figures released in September showed gross domestic product edging up 0.1 per cent in the June quarter, following five quarters of contraction.
At that time Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) warned the growth was so small it could not be seen as a sign of economic recovery.
Along with the unemployment rate, the Household Labour Force Survey released today by SNZ also showed seasonally adjusted employment falling 0.8 per cent, worse than the 0.3 per cent median fall prediction.
The seasonally adjusted labour force participation rate was 68 per cent, down 0.4 percentage points from the June quarter.
The unemployment rate has been rising from a low of 3.5 per cent in the December 2007 quarter.
Social Development and Employment Minister Paula Bennett issued a statement saying that today's unemployment numbers were "in line with what was expected."
"Yes, New Zealand has come out of recession - just. But unemployment tends to lag behind an economy getting back on its feet. Recent forecasts though have unemployment peaking closer to 7 per cent, instead of the 8 per cent forecast in the Budget.
"We've also seen a drop in the number of people requiring an Unemployment Benefit. For the month of October, the total number dropped below 60,000, to 59,955. In September, 60,600 were on the unemployment benefit."
An investment in 300 more frontline staff at Work and Income had made a difference in helping people find work, said Bennett.
She said "the rate at which people coming through their doors leave without needing a benefit has risen to over 40 per cent last week".
In September the youth benefit numbers were 19,845, said Bennett, but today's October benefit figures showed youth 19,461 young people between 15 and 24 were on an unemployment benefit.
The percentage of working age people on an unemployment benefit was 2.1 per cent in New Zealand, compared to Australia's 4.5 per cent using the latest available data, said Bennett.
- NZPA / NZ HERALD STAFF
