I'm starting to feel guilty about this long decadent Auckland summer. It could just be my grandmother's Presbyterian streak kicking it.

Campaigner Deborah Littman says paying a living wage will require a leap in thinking to accompany an increase in the $13.50 minimum wage to $18.40.

Auckland and Wellington councils have agreed to look into adopting the "living wage" of $18.40 an hour proposed by a coalition of union and community groups.

Parents of students attending Auckland's Diocesan School for Girls pay roughly one and a half times as much in fees as Ana Malolo takes home for cleaning the school.

Very weak jobs data from Statistics New Zealand yesterday raised economists' eyebrows.

The New Zealand dollar fell by more than half a US cent today after labour data showed that the employment rate fell to its lowest point in 10 years.

New Zealand's unemployment rate fell from a 13-year high in the last three months of 2012 as people stopped looking for work and the participation rate shrank.

It's back to school for students but many teachers are unemployed because of an oversupply.

An East Coast man on the dole for 25 years is the longest unemployment beneficiary in the country and has been paid more than $260,000 in taxpayer money.

The latest tax figures offer some hope that the labour market is not quite as grim as official statistics portray.

Australian workers are being sought for a large Auckland building project beginning soon, outraging NZ First leader Winston Peters, who says Kiwis have been snubbed.

The increasing Asian ownership of restaurants and cafes in Auckland is giving Asians an advantage over English-speaking European job seekers, a Massey University sociologist says.

The number of sole parents on the domestic purposes benefit dropped by 5000 last year - a drop Social Development Minister Paula Bennett is attributing partly to her new policy requiring sole parents to get jobs when their youngest child turns five.

Many have been brought up on a "follow your dream" diet only to find out too late that it doesn't always result in a job. An injection of realism is long overdue.

Fuelled by the highest rate of unemployment in 13 years, the queues snaking along the pavements outside the Auckland City Mission have nothing festive about them.

Paul Little: Send jobless to Oz? A poor solution

The NZIER shadow board believes Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler should leave the official cash rate on hold at 2.5 per cent on Thursday.

More people lose their jobs in the lead-up to Christmas than in other times of the year, as employers take stock and plan for the year ahead.