Our take on the latest Employment indicators (Mon 11 Jan 2021)
Filled jobs down 0.1%pa in Nov 2020 - first decline in a decade
Otago, Canterbury, and Auckland had the largest falls
Female and youth job losses becoming more pronounced
The key numbers...
- Job numbers declined for the first time in a decade in November 2020, down 0.1%pa according to the latest monthly employment figures from Statistics New Zealand.
- Although employment in service industries fell 0.5%pa, employment in primary and goods producing industries remained more robust.
- The largest number of job losses were in accommodation and food services (-8,250), transport, postal and warehousing (-7,678), administrative and support services (-5,108), and manufacturing (-3,365). However, public administration and safety (+9,595), health (+7,607), and construction (+7,224) were still going strong.
- Hawke’s Bay showed the greatest strength regionally, with filled jobs sitting 3.0%pa higher. Job losses were more concentrated around Otago (-2.3%pa), Southland (-1.2%), Canterbury (-0.8%), and Auckland (-0.6%).
- Of concern is the sustained deterioration in youth employment, particularly for females, with a 4.3%pa drop in filled jobs for females aged below 30, and a 3.9%pa drop for males aged below 30.
An uneven hit across New Zealand
Annual change in filled jobs, November 2020
...and our reaction
- The hit to New Zealand’s tourism sector is becoming more pronounced heading into the peak summer months, with the first annual decline in employment reflecting this trend.
- Although many areas have been boosted by higher levels of domestic tourism, the hit from our closed borders will still be brutal – spending data shows annual declines throughout November and December, and today’s job numbers reinforce that hit.
- Substantial regional differences remain, with areas with a greater tourism focus hit harder but areas with historically less international tourism and stronger primary activity doing better.
- The continued deterioration in the number of young people and women employment is worrying, with more work needed to specifically address this issue and support these groups back into employment.
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