Unemployment rose to 5.2% in the June quarter of 2025, according to new numbers from Stats NZ — the highest it’s been since September 2020.
It’s a slight increase from the previous 5.1% in the March 2025 quarter and 4.7% in the June 2024 quarter.
There were 158,000 people unemployed in the June 2025 quarter. In the March 2025 quarter, there were 156,000.
Unemployment rose by 16,000 people (11.1%) annually.
Economist notes that unemployed Kiwis who left for Australia are no longer included in our data. (Source: 1News)
“Labour market conditions have changed considerably in the last few years. Since the June 2022 quarter, the unemployment rate has risen by 1.9 percentage points,” labour market spokesperson Jason Attewell said.
“The underutilisation rate has risen by 3.5 percentage points over the same period.”
The underutilisation rate, a measure of untapped labour market capacity which includes people who are unemployed or underemployed, was 12.8% in the June 2025 quarter. It was 12.4% in the March 2025 quarter and 119.% in the June 2024 quarter.
The employment rate was 66.8%, down from 67.1% in the March quarter and 68.3% a year ago.
Attewell said wages continued to grow, “although at a slower pace compared with June 2024”.
Annual wage inflation was 2.4%, compared with 4.3% in the June 2024 quarter.
‘Crushes my spirit’ – jobseeker applies for dozens of roles
Speaking before the release of today’s numbers, job seeker Ata Patene, who had been looking for work for more than a year, told 1News she had applied for over 100 jobs.
“I’ve been looking for jobs for nearly a year and a half. I’ve been looking in person, on Seek, Indeed, Trade Me, and I’ve also been emailing companies directly.
“I’ve lost count of how many. This past week it was around 20.”
She said she had been forced to look for work outside her experience in sectors such as retail, hospitality, administration and factory work.
Just 16% of the industry has a positive outlook, as skilled workers increasingly depart for more work overseas. (Source: 1News)
She once showed up to meet a family about a babysitting job, only to discover she had been catfished, and the “family” did not live there.
Patene said looking for a job had been “daunting” and “pretty heartbreaking”.
“It’s exciting getting interviews, but then I get the response that I didn’t get the job, and that kind of crushes my spirit.”
When can we expect things to get better?
On Breakfast, BNZ chief economist Mike Jones gave his thoughts on what was driving unemployment, and when it could get better. (Source: 1News)
BNZ chief economist Mike Jones told Breakfast this morning the job market was “really tough out there”.
“A lot of people applying for a lot of jobs, and firms getting hundreds of applications for the jobs that they do list, so it’s symptomatic of an imbalance that we’re seeing in the labour market where there are more people looking for work, or looking for extra work than there are opportunities available.”
He said the rising unemployment figures were likely an aftershock of last year’s recession, and a reflection that the economic recovery had been “pretty disappointing”.
“It’s been a bit stop-start, it’s been stumbling along, so that’s impacted hiring plans as well.
“Firms haven’t felt confident in the economic environment to get going, hiring again.”
For employment numbers to stabilise again, the economy needed to find its feet, Jones said. He expected this to happen, but said “it will take some time”.
“I think for the improvement that we’d all like to see in the labour market, we are looking at a picture that is probably sliding into next year.”
‘Not satisfied’ – Finance Minister
Finance Minister Nicola Willis said that while unemployment was lower than what was forecast by Treasury, the Government was “not satisfied” with the rate.
“We are concerned for every New Zealander who wants a job and can’t get one.”
She said the Government had worked hard to rebuild the economy, and said its focus had been on controlling inflation and ensuring interest rates could come down and economic growth could be restored.
“Those are the conditions that lead to a fall in unemployment, and we have long known that until we had those conditions in place, it would be very challenging to get the unemployment number down.”
She believed the Government was making “good progress” in recovering the economy, citing slower inflation and lower interest rates.
Willis said the Government was using public projects to help with employment in the short term.
PM has ‘abandoned’ middle NZ – Hipkins
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the latest figures were “clear proof” that the Government was failing New Zealanders.
“While thousands of people are out of work and struggling to pay the bills, Luxon is looking after property speculators and fossil fuel companies. He has abandoned middle New Zealand.
“What’s worse is that these figures don’t even include the thousands of Kiwis who have left for Australia to find work that should be available here.
“Kiwis are voting with their feet and leaving in record numbers. That is a clear vote of no confidence in National.”
