Unemployment rate not as bad as overseas

Media release

Newmarket Business Association

Thursday, 6 August 2009

Unemployment rate not as bad as overseas

New Zealand’s 6% unemployment rate announced today is a concern, but it needs to kept perspective. In many cases it’s much worse overseas,” says Cameron Brewer, general manager of the Newmarket Business Association.

“Let’s not forget that 9.5% of Americans are unemployed and 9.4% of Europeans living in the 16 Eurozone countries are unemployed. UK unemployment is 7.6% and growing fast. We’re still doing a lot better than many other countries."

Cameron Brewer points out that there are currently more people are out of work in the United Kingdom (2.3 million) than there are people in work in New Zealand (2.1 million). The UK is expecting 3 million people to be unemployed by mid-2010.

“We haven’t seen the lay offs that they’ve seen throughout the UK, Europe and in the United States. The US unemployment rate has just hit a 26-year high, with unemployment now over 10% in 15 states

“New Zealand’s unemployment rate is still relatively low in an international context. What’s more it’s no where near the 11.1% recorded in New Zealand for the March quarter of 1992."

Mr Brewer says the relatively resilient Kiwi employment market has meant retail in New Zealand has not gone into freefall, unlike the US and UK which have reported shocking retail spending statistics over the past 12 months.

“All the statistics show that retail across New Zealand has flat-lined more than free fallen. This is largely because the overwhelming majority of New Zealanders have kept their jobs and business confidence for the longer term remains solid.”

Mr Brewer says for the 2.1 million Kiwis currently employed, life is arguably better than it was.

“The likes of interest rates on credit cards have fallen, inflation is down, and we had two rounds of tax cuts in October and April. The end result is that most salary and wage earners arguably have more discretionary income than 12 months ago. However the missing ingredient is of course confidence but that will follow if unemployment can be minimised."

“New Zealand’s workforce hasn’t been slammed by this international recession like many other countries have. Relatively low unemployment means people are still spending in a comparable fashion which has helped to cushion New Zealand retailers,” said Mr Brewer.

ENDS

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