⁍ New Zealand’s unemployment rate unexpectedly fell in the second quarter, driven by a decline in the number of people looking for work.

---

⁍ Employment dropped a much smaller-than-expected 0.4% quarter-on-quarter compared with a forecast 2.0% drop.

---

– New Zealand’s unemployment rate unexpectedly fell in the second quarter, driven by a decline in the number of people looking for work amid tight coronavirus restrictions while the number of hours worked plunged. The headline jobless rate fell to 4.0% from 4.2% in the last quarter, defying the expectations of economists polled by Reuters for a 5.8% increase in the unemployment rate. With the country in COVID-19 lockdown when the quarter began, fewer people who did not have a job were actively seeking work, Statistics New Zealand said in a statement. People who were not actively seeking work were not counted as unemployed, resulting in a fall in the unemployment rate. But the underutilization rate, a measure of spare capacity in the labor market, rose from 10.4% to 12.0%—the largest quarterly rise since the series began. The hours worked were down by over 10%—another record, Statistics NZ said. “Near the end of the quarter, the unemployment rate may have increased because more people sought work as New Zealand moved down the alert levels and restrictions were eased,’ labor market and household statistics senior manager Sean Broughton said.