WELLINGTON: New Zealand's labour market was flat in November, offering further evidence that economic activity is patchy and uneven, official data showed on Tuesday.
Statistics New Zealand said the number of seasonally adjusted filled jobs, a measure of employment, eased 0.1 percent in November on October, but rose 1.2 percent from a year ago.
The data makes up the national employment indicator, an experimental series, covering filled jobs held by people being paid a wage or salary during the calendar month.
It provides a monthly indication of change in the number of filled jobs, and complements quarterly statistics such as the employment survey and the household labour force survey.
The data compares with a rise of 0.2 percent in employment, around 5,000 jobs, in the three months to Sept 30 in the household labour force survey, which saw official unemployment rate rise to 6.6 percent from 6.5 percent. See
The quarterly employment survey showed the number of filled jobs rising 0.7 percent on the previous quarter, but only 0.6 percent higher than a year earlier. Wage growth was also modest during the quarter.
Other recent data has shown a fall in the number of job adverts to a seven-month low in October, while the latest business sentiment survey showed a fall in hiring intentions.
The relatively flat labour market and modest wage pressures, have backed views that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand can afford to leave its cash rate at a record low 2.5 percent well into next year.
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