The latest job figures suggest it will be some time before the pressures of rebuilding Canterbury start to fuel inflation.
Westpac chief economist Dominick Stephens says he thinks this will eventually happen but there's no sign of it as yet.
He says a key consideration for the Reserve Bank is the inflation consequences of rebuilding Canterbury.
Mr Stephens says a possible scenario is that once many people are employed on construction work it becomes hard to find such workers, which pushes up wages, creates inflation pressure and requires higher interest rates.
He says he expects things to play out that way, but it will take time and at this stage there is no apparent upward pressure on wages.
Official figures from Statistics New Zealand figures show the unemployment rate rose to 6.4% in the June quarter from 6.2% three months earlier, largely because of a small increase in the participation rate to 68% of the working-age population.
Among figures indicating improving employment, hours paid rose 1.1% in the June quarter from a 0.4% increase in March.
Private sector salary and wage rates rose by 1.8% from the June quarter last year, a slowdown from a 2.1% annual growth rate in June last year.
