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Summary
- Stats NZ revealed that filled jobs rose and hit a new high in April 2021.
- Construction, healthcare and construction were amongst the biggest drivers of the increase in filled job numbers.
- Filled jobs have resumed to a more upward trend in last few months.
April 2021 was marked as a month in which seasonally adjusted job numbers rose 0.3%, hitting a new high after eclipsing the previous month’s record, as per the latest data released by Stats NZ Friday.
After accounting for seasonal factors, filled job counts hit the highest point in February 2020 before decreasing 2.1% (47,331 jobs) over March and April 2020. The COVID-19 Alert Level 4 limitations, which started in the latter week of March and lasted through most of April, corresponded with this decline in figures.
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Business Insights manager Sue Chapman stated that job numbers did not recover to the February 2020 peak until March 2021. After an exciting 2020 year, it looks that filled jobs have reverted to a more regular and rising trend in the last few months, Chapman noted.
In April 2021, there were roughly 2,236,000 jobs in actual terms, reflecting a more than 2.5% rise from April 2020, when jobs had fallen to 2,181,000 due to COVID-19 Alert Level 4 lockdown.
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While employment statistics add up and illustrate people in New Zealand with paid jobs by finding information on income, occupations and industries, work-related injuries, types of work, and employment conditions, unemployment data counts and shows people who do not have a paid job but could be working.
Industries and regions that saw the biggest changes in filled job numbers
Industries that were behind the increase in the filled job numbers in April 2021 were:
- Construction (up 7.1% or 12,568 jobs)
- Health care and social assistance (up 6.5% or 15,474 jobs)
- Public administration and safety (up 5.8% or 8,058 jobs)
- Professional, scientific, and technical services (up 4.4% or 7,370 jobs).
Bay of Plenty and Waikato regions witnessed the highest growth, 5% and 4.4%, respectively, in filled job numbers in April 2021 against the same month in 2020. Wellington (+3.1%), Canterbury (+2%), and Auckland (+1.5%) were other regions that saw changes in the number of filled jobs in the month.
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Transportation, postal, and warehousing industries had 4.9% less jobs filled in April 2021 than in April 2020. The Jobs in the aviation industry had decreased as airline crew numbers were laid off after COVID-19-imposed restrictions on foreign travel.
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Administrative and support services fell by 2.3% as well (2,451 jobs). This industry comprises recruiting businesses, which may have been impacted by a drop in foreign travel, as well as travel agencies, which have been affected by a fall in abroad travel, as per Chapman.
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Gross earnings and the number of enterprises also rose
The amount paid to all employees in the reference month is referred to as gross earnings.
Actual gross earnings for the month of April 2021 were $11.9 billion, up from $11.1 billion in April 2020. Due to the time of paydays, the monthly data is varied.
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From March to April 2021, the number of businesses on the Stats NZ business register (a list of all economically important businesses in New Zealand) increased by 4,416 (0.8%) to 543,318. Within the month, there were 7,056 entrances and 2,637 departures.
(NOTE: Currency is reported in NZ Dollar unless stated otherwise)
