{"id":2133,"date":"2025-08-06T13:53:25","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T13:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/2025\/08\/06\/kiwi-higher-thanks-to-solid-wage-growth-despite-dip-in-nz-q2-2025-employment\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T13:53:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T13:53:25","slug":"kiwi-higher-thanks-to-solid-wage-growth-despite-dip-in-nz-q2-2025-employment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/2025\/08\/06\/kiwi-higher-thanks-to-solid-wage-growth-despite-dip-in-nz-q2-2025-employment\/","title":{"rendered":"Kiwi Higher Thanks To Solid Wage Growth Despite Dip in NZ Q2 2025 Employment"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

New Zealand\u2019s unemployment rate climbed to 5.2% in the June 2025 quarter, up from 5.1% in the previous quarter, as the labor market continues to show signs of gradual cooling amid broader economic headwinds.<\/p>\n

The latest data from Statistics New Zealand showed a 0.1% quarter-on-quarter decline in hiring as expected, while the previous reading was downgraded to show a flat figure from the earlier 0.1% uptick.<\/p>\n

Key Points from the June 2025 Quarter Report<\/strong><\/h3>\n
    \n
  • Unemployment rises modestly<\/strong>: The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 5.2% from 5.1%, with the number of unemployed people reaching 158,000<\/li>\n
  • Employment rate declines<\/strong>: The employment rate fell to 66.8% from 67.1%, with total employed persons at 2.88 million compared to 2.91 million a year earlier<\/li>\n
  • Regional job losses concentrated<\/strong>: Auckland saw the largest employment decline with 23,100 fewer jobs, followed by Waikato (-11,100) and Taranaki (-5,200)<\/li>\n
  • Wage growth moderates<\/strong>: All salary and wage rates increased 2.4% annually, while average ordinary time hourly earnings rose 4.5% to $43.39<\/li>\n
  • Underutilization broadens<\/strong>: The underutilization rate climbed to 12.8%, affecting 403,000 people, with women disproportionately represented at 222,000<\/li>\n
  • Youth employment challenges persist<\/strong>: The NEET rate (not in employment, education, or training) for 15-24 year-olds remained stable at 12.9%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    The modest uptick in unemployment came alongside a decline in the employment rate to 66.8%, down from 67.1% in March, signaling that fewer working-age New Zealanders are finding jobs in an increasingly challenging economic environment.<\/p>\n

    The underutilization rate, which captures a broader measure of labor market slack including underemployed workers, rose to 12.8% from 12.4% in the previous quarter. The 0.9% year-over-year drop in employment, with 26,000 fewer people in work compared to June 2024, underscores the challenging conditions facing job seekers across the country.<\/p>\n

    Link to official New Zealand Labour Market Statistics (June 2025 Quarter)<\/strong><\/p>\n

    However, the wage price index presents a slightly more upbeat picture, with the Labour Cost Index showing all salary and wage rates rising 2.4% annually \u2013 a pace that remains above the Reserve Bank\u2019s inflation target.<\/p>\n

    Market Reactions<\/h2>\n

    New Zealand Dollar vs. Major Currencies: 5-min<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The New Zealand dollar exhibited a mixed but generally positive reaction to the employment data release, with most major currency pairs showing modest gains.<\/p>\n

    NZD\/USD pair approximately 0.43% a few hours after the release, suggesting markets may have been positioned for a weaker outcome or are focusing on the uptick in labor cost index from 0.4% to 0.6% quarter-on-quarter as an indicator of sticky wage pressures.<\/p>\n

    Against other major currencies, the kiwi dollar showed broad-based strength, gaining 0.41% versus the euro, 0.40% against the pound, and 0.36% versus the Swiss franc.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    New Zealand\u2019s unemployment rate climbed to 5.2% in the June 2025 quarter, up from 5.1% in the previous quarter, as the labor market continues to show signs of gradual cooling amid broader economic headwinds. The latest data from Statistics New Zealand showed a 0.1% quarter-on-quarter decline in hiring as expected, while the previous reading was<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2133-NZD-employment-news-2025-08-06-780x405.png",780,405,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2133-NZD-employment-news-2025-08-06-780x405-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2133-NZD-employment-news-2025-08-06-780x405-300x156.png",300,156,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2133-NZD-employment-news-2025-08-06-780x405-768x399.png",640,333,true],"large":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2133-NZD-employment-news-2025-08-06-780x405.png",640,332,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2133-NZD-employment-news-2025-08-06-780x405.png",780,405,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2133-NZD-employment-news-2025-08-06-780x405.png",780,405,false],"morenews-featured":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2133-NZD-employment-news-2025-08-06-780x405.png",780,405,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2133-NZD-employment-news-2025-08-06-780x405.png",780,405,false],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2133-NZD-employment-news-2025-08-06-780x405-590x405.png",590,405,true],"crawlomatic_preview_image":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2133-NZD-employment-news-2025-08-06-780x405-260x135.png",260,135,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"henry","author_link":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/author\/henry\/"},"category_info":"Latest News<\/a>","tag_info":"Latest News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}