30 Jun 2016

Unemployment rate falls after Stats NZ revision

2:53 pm on 30 June 2016

The unemployment rate has plunged to a seven-year low as a result of Statistics New Zealand revising how it measures the labour market.

The department now classifies looking at job advertisements on the internet as not actively seeking work, and so it has removed them from the unemployment figures.

The change has resulted in a sharp downward revision to the jobless rate to 5.2 percent for the three months ended in March.

That's the lowest since the first quarter of 2009.

Previously the unemployment rate was at 5.7 percent.

Statistics New Zealand said the revision brought the numbers in line with international standards.

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