New Zealand: Unemployment rate slides again in Q2
The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate fell to 3.9% in Q2, down from 4.2% in Q1. The improved reading, the lowest since June 2008, reflected a drop in the number of unemployed people as a share of the labor force. Employment gains were broad-based, but greater among men than women.
Moreover, the underutilization rate—which includes both unemployment and underemployment—fell from 11.3% in Q1 to 11.0% in Q2, signaling a decline in the labor market’s untapped capacity. Meanwhile, private sector wages rose 0.8% in Q2 on a quarter-on-quarter basis, above Q4’s 0.3% upturn. All told, wage pressures are beginning to intensify.