Unemployment

Definition: The unemployment rate¹ is the number of people aged 15 years and over who are not employed and who are actively seeking and available for paid work, expressed as a percentage of the total labour force, as measured by the Household Labour Force Survey. The labour force is the population aged 15 years and over who are either employed or unemployed.

This image is a visual representation of the data for this indicator. See the table below this image for the information.

Unemployment rate (the percentage of the labour force who are unemployed)

Region		1986	1991	1996	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
1	Northland	6.6	13.9	9.9	8.2	9.5	8.5	4.8	5.7	5.2	4.3	5.8	8.9
2	Auckland	3.2	11.6	5.3	5.0	4.8	4.0	3.9	3.7	3.7	3.9	4.7	6.9
3	Waikato	5.5	11.0	7.2	6.2	5.6	4.7	3.3	4.3	3.5	3.7	4.3	6.2
4	Bay of Plenty	4.8	12.7	8.4	8.4	7.6	6.7	5.1	4.2	4.2	3.6	4.4	6.8
5	Gisborne	5.2	11.3	7.8	6.7	5.3	5.4	5.2	5.3	4.3	4.8	5.9	8.3
6	Hawke’s Bay	5.2	11.3	7.8	6.7	5.3	5.4	5.2	5.3	4.3	4.8	5.9	8.3
7	Taranaki	5.5	12.2	7.4	5.8	5.3	5.1	4.5	3.6	3.4	3.3	3.4	4.2
8	Manawatu-Whanganui	4.5	11.5	6.6	5.3	5.2	4.8	4.4	4.4	4.6	5.3	4.2	5.8
9	Wellington	2.9	8.4	6.3	4.3	5.0	5.4	4.4	3.8	4.9	3.5	3.9	5.8
10	Tasman	3.4	8.6	6.0	3.5	3.5	3.5	2.6	2.7	3.2	2.8	3.3	3.7
11	Nelson
12	Marlborough
13	West Coast
14	Canterbury	4.2	9.3	6.2	5.5	5.0	4.2	3.7	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.1	5.3
15	Otago	5.8	8.3	5.0	5.5	6.0	5.7	3.9	3.7	3.8	3.3	3.2	4.8
16	Southland	5.1	9.2	4.9	3.5	3.6	3.6	3.8	2.7	3.0	2.4	2.6	3.5
New Zealand		4.2	10.6	6.3	5.4	5.3	4.8	4.0	3.8	3.8	3.7	4.2	6.1

Source: Statistics New Zealand, Household Labour Force Survey, average for December years.
Note: (1) The measure used in the social report is the official unemployment rate, reported as an annual average.

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