Chris Lynch: New Zealand unemployment rises to 5.1 percent, highest since 2020

New Zealand unemployment continued to rise, reaching 5.1 percent in the December 2024 quarter, according to new data from Stats NZ. This marks the highest unemployment rate since the September 2020 quarter, when it was 5.2 percent.

Stats NZ’s Household Labour Force Survey showed that unemployment increased by 33,000 over the past year, bringing the total number of unemployed people to 156,000.