Statistics New Zealand says the number of filled jobs in the country rose by almost 8,000 in January, the third month in a row that filled job numbers have risen after a run of consecutive monthly falls last year.
Stats NZ’s Monthly Employment Indicators (MEI) release for January showed, on a seasonally adjusted basis, a 0.3%, or 7,948 increase in the total number of jobs in the country to 2.36 million.
In the December MEI release, Stats NZ’s data showed, on a seasonally adjusted basis, an increase of 0.1% or 2,615 jobs in the total number of jobs in NZ.
Changes in the seasonally adjusted filled jobs for January compared with December 2024 were:
- All industries — up 0.3% or 7,948 jobs
- Primary industries — down 0.2% or 198 jobs
- Goods-producing industries — down 0.2% or 1,088 jobs
- Service industries — up 0.5 percent or 8,361 jobs
Year-on-year drop
On an annual basis, Stats NZ said filled jobs were down 1.2% or 28,700 to 2.34 million when comparing January 2025 to January 2024.
In that period, the number of filled jobs fell by 1.9% or 23,092 jobs for men, and 0.9% or 10,973 jobs for women.
Actual gross earnings on an accrual basis for January 2025 were $15.6 billion, compared with $15.4 billion in January last year – a 1.29% increase.
Actual gross earnings on an accrual basis a month earlier in December 2024 were $16.2 billion.
By industry, the largest changes in the number of filled jobs when comparing January 2025 with January 2024 were in the below sectors:
- Manufacturing — down 2.6% or 6,292 jobs
- Health care and social assistance — up 2.3% or 6,314 jobs
- Education and training — up 4% or 7,857 jobs
- Construction — down 6.6% or 13,457 jobs
- Administrative and support services — down 7% or 7,073 jobs
When it came to the regions, Wellington reported the biggest decrease in filled job numbers, down 1.8% or 4,666 jobs. Auckland (down 1.7% or 13,766 jobs) and Hawke’s Bay (down 1.7% or 1,374 jobs) were close behind.
Stats NZ said other regions with the largest changes in filled job numbers were Manawatū-Whanganui (down 1.5 % or 1,655 jobs) and Bay of Plenty (down 1.1% or 1,541 jobs).
Across the age groups, filled jobs for younger age groups have continued to fall at fast rate:
- 15–19 years — down 11% or 15,402 jobs
- 25–29 years — down 4.7% or 12,202 jobs
- 30–34 years — down 2.5% or 7,370 jobs
- 20–24 years — down 3.3% or 7,366 jobs
- 35–39 years — up 2.6% or 6,892 jobs
Filled jobs for 15 to 24-year-olds have been decreasing on an annual basis since August 2023, and the 25 to 34-year-olds began showing annual decreases from May 2024.
‘Near its peak’
The official unemployment figures for the December quarter as measured by Stats NZ's Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) found more than 32,000 New Zealanders lost their jobs in 2024.
The country’s unemployment rate hit 5.1% in the final quarter of 2024, the highest level of unemployment since September 2020 when the unemployment rate was at 5.2%.
Stats NZ found there to be 156,000 people looking for work by the end of the December 2024 quarter.
The Reserve Bank said in its February Monetary Policy Statement that unemployment was continuing to increase but was “near its peak and likely to decline from later this year”.
Unemployment hit a record low of 3.2% during 2022.
3 Comments
And why not, one for the road
Official stats are all good and well, but they only tell part of the story in NZ due to our immigration policies.
Migrant nail technicians to receive $230k in compensation from Wellington nail salon | RNZ News
Upon arrival, the nail technicians were required to perform tasks that were not in their employment agreement such as massages
My challenge to those that preach how affordable the subscription here is, is to afford some care for what our lax immigration policies are allowing to be done to fellow humans.
Ditto those that think of themselves as journalists yet just repeat what we already know - it's published elsewhere. Why not look in the dark corners and add some original insight on what you find there about the true state of affairs in NZ.
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