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Summary
- New Zealand’s economy showed early signs of revival amid the coronavirus pandemic as compared to other countries.
- The country's unemployment rate declined from 4.9% (in December 2020 quarter) to 4.7% (in March 2021 quarter).
- More Kiwi women are joining the workforce.
With the ongoing COVID-19 crisis across the globe, the government of various nations provided stimuli and enormous level of emergency support to the people and companies, protecting jobs, etc., to save their respective economies from collapsing.
The onset of the pandemic has had a considerable impact on unemployment among people in almost every country. Many people lost their jobs and livelihood. Some of them have even suffered pay cuts.
However, New Zealand is among the few nations of the world that has successfully contained the spread of the deadly virus. With the roll-out of the inoculation programme across the country, its economy has started to open, which otherwise has been hugely impacted by the pandemic.
Do Not Miss Reading: NZ Unemployment defies expectations, falls rather than rises
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Fall In New Zealand’s Unemployment Rate
As per Stats NZ, the country’s unemployment rate unexpectedly declined to 4.7% in the March 2021 quarter as compared to 4.9%, which was recorded in the December 2020 quarter. Although, the economists expected an unemployment rate of 4.9% in Aotearoa. Moreover, the country’s employment increased by 0.6% as compared to the last 3 months.
Must Read: New Zealand witnesses the biggest quarterly rise in the unemployment rate in Q3
This was majorly because the nation’s business confidence revived after the initial few months of lockdowns and restrictions in 2020. Experiencing a V-shaped economic recovery, the companies began employing more and more people. Moreover, the government and banks aided the economy with relief packages and massive stimuli from time to time to keep its households and companies afloat.
Source: Copyright © 2021 Kalkine Media Pty Ltd
Did You Miss Reading; Why Is NZ Business Confidence Moving Towards The Lower Side?
NZ Women Back To Work
Women had initially experienced increased levels of unemployment rate than men last year. The reason behind this can be attributed to the fact that they tend to work more in sectors like hospitality and retail, which were the worst hit by the pandemic.
However, the rate has decreased in the past two quarters. Although, women continue to experience a high rate of underemployment than men.
It must be noted that male unemployment grew from 4.5% and female unemployment declined from 5.3% in the March 2021 quarter, both of which coincided at 4.7%.
In other words, unemployed people decreased by 5,000 and unemployed women declined by 8,000 as compared to the December 2020 quarter.
Growth in wages remained stable, up 1.6% Y-O-Y.
It was also observed that almost half of the 366,000 workers, who were seeking greater hours of work, were women and the main reason behind a rise in underemployment for the 1st quarter of 2021 was an additional 7,000 women were looking for more work with a slight change for men.
Also Read: How has COVID-19 impacted unemployment levels in New Zealand?
Future Ahead
As per a survey published in March 2021, there has been a marginal rise in confidence in the labour market. More people are hopeful of the current employment possibilities. however, the uncertainty around the future still prevailed.
Brad Olsen, Infometrics economist, opines that the economy is still recovering from the COVID-19 impact. With the change in business conditions and an increase in companies’ profitability and liquidation position, labour market across the nation may be comparatively volatile in 2021 with improvements expected in 2022.
