Full-time job numbers bottom out; wage growth at 10-year low

Tuesday 4th May 2010

New Zealand’s slow climb out of economic recession shows in a continued improvement in full-time equivalent employees and filled jobs, according to Statistics NZ.

In its March 2010 quarterly employment survey, released this morning, the department said the recent decline in demand for labour had abated. In the year to March, filled jobs remained steady after five consecutive quarters of decline. The number of full-time employees has remained steady over the year at 1.3 million, and filled jobs at 1.7 million.

This result is due to a 3.2% increase in part-time employment negating a 1.2% decrease in full-time employment. The professional, scientific, technical, administrative and support services industry showed the largest increase in filled jobs in the year.

Full-time employment in the manufacturing industry decreased 7.7%. Seasonally adjusted total paid hours increased 1.1% from the previous quarter, with a 0.1% decrease over the year to now stand at 49.52 million. Statistics NZ’s labour cost index, which measures changes in salary and wage rates for a fixed quantity and quality of labour input increased 0.3% in the March quarter, following increases of 0.4% in the December 2009 quarter and 0.5% in the September 2009 quarter.

The overall 1.5% annual increase in the LCI for the March year is the lowest since an identical increase in the year to the September 2000 quarter.

The largest increases in March quarterly salary and wage rates were in the education sector with a 3.2% increase, due partly to collective employment agreements coming into effect and to increases for some tertiary teaching professionals.

The health and community services industry had a quarterly increase of 2.6%. Annually, 19% of salary and ordinary time wage rates increased by no more than 3%, 17% by more than 3% but not more than 5%, and 8% increased by more than 5% in the year to the March 2010 quarter.

Businesswire.co.nz

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