Software companies Xero and Orion Health say they will be able to absorb at least some of the workers who are set to lose their jobs at Telecom.

New Zealand police officers are being drawn to the warmth of Australia, as the force here battles through a budget freeze.

The money's good, the jobs are plentiful - so why does New Zealand's growing IT industry find it so hard to attract skilled staff? Anthony Doesburg reports

Paula Bennett's reputation for being tough on beneficiaries is in jeopardy as figures reveal record high numbers on state financial support.

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.

New Zealand labour costs rose in the final three months of 2012 as the gathering pace of Canterbury's reconstruction effort saw the building and construction sector underpin gains.

Marking 50 years of work at the Hillside foundry, Roger Parsons yesterday poured the last KiwiRail cast on site before heading to his local for a beer.

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.

The decline in mortgagee sales of residential properties has been interpreted by a bank economist as a welcome sign of an improvement in the economy.

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.