The unemployment rate has been recorded at 5.3% in the March 2026 quarter.
This is down 0.1% from the December 2025 quarter, where it was recorded at 5.4%.
There were 163,000 unemployed people in New Zealand in the March 2026 quarter, compared with 165,000 in the December 2025 quarter.
The underutilisation rate, a measure of untapped labour market capacity, remained the same at 12.9%. The annual wage inflation was recorded at 2%, and the average ordinary time hourly earnings were $44.12.
Data released today by Stats NZ ended at March 26, meaning the ongoing fallout from the Iran war and the global fuel crisis could only be partly taken into account.
Economists had been anticipating the unemployment rate to remain around the near-decade high which was recorded last quarter.
In the year ended March 2026, all salary and wage rates, including overtime, increased 2%.
The average weekly earnings, which also included overtime for full-time equivalent employees were recorded at $1716, up from $1666 last year.
Private sector average weekly earnings increased 3.1% to $1625, while those in the public sector increased 2.5% to $2060.
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