Unemployment rate on the rise

New Zealand's unemployment rate has been revised up 0.1 percentage point to 4.7 per cent, as a result of an update to take into account latest population estimates.

Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) said today that it had revised series from the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) back to the start of the survey in March 1986.

That was due to the inclusion of Maori benchmarks into the updated weights, in addition to incorporating revised population estimates from 2001 onwards.

The revised figures published today used population estimates based on the 2006 census and introduced the Maori benchmarks, NZS said.

For the December quarter of last year, the results of the population rebase included a revision in the unemployment rate from the five-year high of 4.6 per cent first published in early February, to 4.7 per cent.

Seasonally adjusted employment for the December quarter, already at the highest level since the survey began, was revised upward by 0.9 per cent to 2.21m.

The revision to the number of people unemployed lifted the total 3.2 per cent to 108,000, while the number not in the labour force was revised up 1.6 per cent to 1.03m.

The labour force participation rate was revised down 0.1 percentage point from its record high to 69.2 per cent.

- NZPA