Don’t be fooled by the headline jobs number

Wed, 05 Aug 2020

New Zealand’s unemployment rate fell to 4 percent in the second quarter. Wait, what?In fact, covid-19 restrictions masked the true picture, pushed the under-utilisation rate to its highest level in 16 years and knocked labour force participation.Officially, there were 108,200 unemployed people in the June quarter but an additional 20,200 were not working and said covid-19-related reasons meant they were not looking or were not available to work.Those people may have been counted as unemployed in the absence of the lockdown restrictio...

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