New Zealand's Jobless Rate Hits 5.7%, and the Number Out of Work for More Than a Year Has Jumped 60% to 36,300
Long-term unemployment has more than tripled since 2022. Wages rose 2.1% in a year while prices rose 3.7%.
Original reporting from public records by Watchman Report staff ·
New Zealand's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 5.7% in the September 2026 quarter from 5.6%, Stats NZ reported Wednesday, with 174,000 people unemployed. The rate matches September 2015 and is the highest since then, according to the agency's published series.
Stats NZ estimates that 36,300 people had been unemployed for more than a year in the September quarter, 21.5% of the 169,100 unemployed before seasonal adjustment. That is up from 22,600 a year earlier, an increase of about 60%, and more than three times the 11,200 in September 2022, by Watchman Report's calculation from the agency's figures. The survey estimate carries a margin: Stats NZ's published range for this year is 31,300 to 41,300.
Unemployment was 11.5% for Pacific peoples and 10.9% for Māori, compared with 5.0% for Asian and 4.5% for European New Zealanders (not seasonally adjusted). The share of 15- to 24-year-olds not in employment, education or training rose to 14.1%.
Wages are not keeping pace with prices. The labour cost index for all salary and wage rates rose 2.1% in the year, while annual consumer price inflation was 3.7%. Full-time employment fell by 17,000 in the quarter while part-time employment rose by 15,000, and casual employees rose by 19,100 over the year to 116,900.
Watchman Report read Stats NZ's "Labour market statistics: September 2026 quarter" release, published Nov. 4, 2026 (New Zealand time), including its tables on unemployment duration. All figures are Stats NZ's; the 60% increase and the "more than three times" comparison are Watchman Report's calculations from the published September-quarter estimates for 2022, 2025 and 2026. Household Labour Force Survey figures are sample estimates with margins of error.
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