New Zealand witnessed a quarterly increase of 0.1 % in jobs, and the unemployment rate is fixed at 5.1 %

The New Zealand’s semester recruitment report showed a 0.1 % increase in employment as expected in the first quarter, while the unemployment rate was fixed at 5.1 % instead of the height to 5.3 %.

Meanwhile, the workforce sharing rate slowed from 71 % to 70.8 % while the employment cost index fell from estimates, an increase of 0.4 % over a quarter instead of the estimated decrease from 0.6 % to 0.5 %.

The main components of the Q1 2025 report:

• Employment change: +0.1 % Q/Q as expected, previous reading has been reduced from -0.1 % to -0.2 %
• The unemployment rate is fixed at 5.1 % compared to the expenses of the increase from 5.1 % to 5.3 %
• The workforce sharing rate decreased from 71 % to 70.8 % instead of keeping stability
• Labor cost indicator: +0.4 % Q/Q compared to a consensus of 0.5 %, 0.6 % previous
• The rate of lack of use at estimated 12.3 % compared to 12.1 %

Association with the statistics of the labor market in New Zealand (quarter -March 2025)

On an annual basis, wage growth still has seen a 2.9 % decent gain, reflecting sticky prices that can keep the total inflation of consumers high. However, the rate of decline in participation suggested that people in New Zealand may be less optimistic about labor market conditions.

In addition, the record number indicated that the previous quarter employment changed that the photo of the jobs was not rosy as it was reported at first. Compared to the quarter -March 2024, less than 45,000 people were working full -time while a part -time employment increased 25,000.

Market reaction

New Zealand dollar against major currencies: 5 minutes

Kiwi, which merged a few hours before the functionality, has already emerged against the CHF, JPY, EUR and GBP a few minutes before the numbers printed. This relative weakness is likely to be driven by the weak price index in the eurozone and some safe sale due to the trade developments between the United States and China earlier.

Regardless, it seems that the New Zealand dollar does not seem to have a reaction to mixed functionality data, because positive titles readings did not hide the underlying weaknesses. NZD pairs continued to move mostly after the release of the report, before providing additional support after declining thanks to somewhat optimistic commercial notes from RBNZ Head Hawkesby.

NZD/CHF managed to stick to a 0.52 % increase, followed by NZD/JPY with 0.38 % progress, while Kiwi barely skiing against his colleagues Comdolls Aud and CAD.