More than one labour-market measure
Unemployment does not count everyone who wants more hours or has stopped looking. Compare it with employment, participation, hours worked, underutilisation, vacancies and real wages.
Policy area · work and migration · 2006–2026
Work, wages
and who moves.
Follow New Zealand's unemployment rate across two decades, with economic turning points, employment policies and changes in people arriving in or departing from the country shown alongside it.
How to read this: The chart shows observed unemployment, not a score for any government. The timeline places policy settings and migration changes in context; timing together does not prove that a policy or migration caused unemployment to change.
Unemployment over 20 years
The line shows the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in each December quarter from 2006 to 2025. The latest available quarterly reading is shown separately. Unemployment is the share of the labour force without a job, available for work and actively seeking work—not the share of all people without a job.
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
From a tight labour market to a post-pandemic rise
5.6%Jun 2026 quarter · latest
View the plotted observations
| December quarter | Rate | December quarter | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 3.7% | 2016 | 5.3% |
| 2007 | 3.4% | 2017 | 4.5% |
| 2008 | 4.6% | 2018 | 4.3% |
| 2009 | 6.1% | 2019 | 4.1% |
| 2010 | 6.4% | 2020 | 4.9% |
| 2011 | 6.1% | 2021 | 3.2% |
| 2012 | 6.3% | 2022 | 3.4% |
| 2013 | 5.7% | 2023 | 4.0% |
| 2014 | 5.5% | 2024 | 5.1% |
| 2015 | 5.0% | 2025 | 5.4% |
Sources: Stats NZ, Labour market statistics: December 2025 quarter (published 4 February 2026; series updated 5 August 2026), the unemployment rate indicator (June 2026 quarter, updated 5 August 2026), and Stats NZ downloadable time-series data for earlier HLFS observations. Historical estimates can be revised; the chart is descriptive, not a precise measure of policy impact.
What else was happening?
Read the unemployment line alongside the wider economy, employment settings and migration. Net migration is arrivals minus departures; it can hide very different patterns for New Zealand citizens and non-citizens.
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2008–12Economic shock
Global financial crisis and weak recovery
As the global downturn reached New Zealand, unemployment rose and remained elevated into the early 2010s. Canterbury earthquakes and the rebuilding effort added a major regional demand shock. The labour market also responded to interest rates, export demand and private investment.
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2013–19MigrationEmployment settings
Growing workforce and falling unemployment
Unemployment trended down as the economy and employment grew. Net migration gains were unusually high in 2015–17, adding workers as well as demand for goods, services and housing. Minimum-wage increases and the 2018 employment-relations law changes formed part of the policy setting; neither timing nor correlation on its own establishes their effect on the rate.
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2020–21PandemicPolicy response
COVID-19, border restrictions and the wage subsidy
Public-health restrictions disrupted activity, while border closures sharply reduced international arrivals. The Wage Subsidy Scheme supported eligible employers to retain workers through periods of disruption. Unemployment increased during 2020, then fell in 2021; participation, hours worked, fiscal support and changes in the economy all matter when interpreting this period.
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2022–23MigrationDemand shifts
Reopening and a record net migration gain
With borders reopening, arrivals accelerated. Net migration reached a provisional record gain of 135,500 in the year ended October 2023. Reopening also coincided with shifts in labour demand, prices and monetary conditions; the timing does not isolate any one cause.
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2024–26Departures and arrivalsCooling labour market
More New Zealanders leave; unemployment rises
New Zealand citizen departures exceeded citizen arrivals, even as non-citizen migration continued to affect the overall total. At the same time, weaker economic activity and labour demand accompanied unemployment of 5.6% in the June 2026 quarter. Separate the citizen flows, total net migration and labour-market measures: they answer different questions.
Migration context: Stats NZ, International migration: October 2023 and International migration: December 2025. Net migration estimates are provisional and may be revised.
What a fair jobs assessment needs
Policy design and delivery
For each employment policy, record who was eligible, when funding and implementation began, who received support, the intended mechanism and independent evaluation results.
Migration and population change
Show arrivals and departures separately where possible, distinguish citizens from non-citizens, and compare labour-market outcomes by visa, age, skill, region and time since arrival.
Different experiences of work
Disaggregate reliable measures by age, gender, ethnicity, disability, region and industry. Describe data gaps and avoid treating a national average as everyone's experience.
Evidence to follow
These links are starting points for the time series and policy record. Check the reporting period, revision status and definition before making a comparison.
- Stats NZ unemployment-rate indicator
- Stats NZ labour-market statistics
- Stats NZ migration statistics
- MBIE employment and skills
- MSD evaluations
- The Treasury
The unemployment chart is descriptive. Assess the effects of a specific policy only where a credible evaluation or other causal evidence supports that conclusion; identify other plausible influences and uncertainty.