The NZ Employment numbers for Q1 have just been released.

They came in worse than expected overall:

NZ Employment data for Q1 was:

- Employment (Q/Q) -0.2% (consensus +0.5%)
- Employment (Y/Y) 1.5% (consensus +2.2%)
- Unemployment Rate 4.2% (consensus 4.3%)
- Participation Rate 70.4% (consensus 70.9%)

In addition, Private Ordinary Time Wages were +0.3%/+2.0% (Q/Y), which were both under expectations.

The NZD is lower in immediate response.

Current indicative levels are:

NZD-USD 0.6630 / 0.6655
NZD-AUD 0.9420 / 0.9445
NZD-EUR 0.5915 / 0.5940
NZD-GBP 0.5085 / 0.5110
NZD-JPY 73.90 / 74.15

The RBNZ have the OCR meeting and Monetary Policy Statement Wednesday 8th May - the OCR is expected to be cut by 0.25% to 1.50%.

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