Unemployment falls to 17-year low

11.15am

The unemployment rate dropped to a 17-year low of 4.0 per cent in the June quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today.

The drop from 4.3 per cent was better than economists had forecast. They had expected the rate to remain the same.

According to the Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) quarterly Household Labour Force Survey employment grew by 0.9 per cent over the period.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected employment to grow by 0.5 per cent over the quarter to hold the rate at 4.3 per cent.

"Employment growth this quarter has been driven entirely by males," SNZ said in commentary.

"There were 20,000 more males and 2000 fewer females employed in the June 2004 quarter than in the previous quarter."

Construction, business and financial services were the key industries driving employment growth over the period, SNZ said.

There were significant falls in employment in agriculture, forestry and fishing.

The workforce participation rate grew to 66.7 per cent from 66.6 per cent previously.

The Maori unemployment rate fell to 8.8 per cent from 9.4 per cent the previous quarter while Pacific people's rate fell to 7.4 per cent from 7.9 per cent.

The Pakeha rate fell to 3 per cent from 3.4 per cent.

On a regional basis Auckland's unemployment rate fell to 3.7 per cent from 4.4 per cent previously. Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne/Hawke's Bay, Taranaki and Manawatu-Wanganui also recorded strong falls in unemployment.

New Zealand now has the second lowest unemployment rate amongst the 27 OECD countries behind South Korea at 3.5 per cent.

- NZPA