Stats NZ have released the unemployment rates for the September 2020 quarter. The figures show the number of unemployed people in New Zealand rose to 37,000 to reach 151,000. This brings unemployment to 5.3% due to COVID-19.

Although nationally unemployment is sitting at 5.3% Taranaki is tracking under the national level at 4.5%. This rate has only marginally changed from the June 2020 quarter which was at 4.4%.

“It is positive to see Taranaki is tracking under the national level for unemployment and the figure hasn’t changed drastically from the June quarter,” says Venture Taranaki General Manager Regional Strategy and Sectors, Anne Probert 
 

“The unemployment rate, however is an area we need to continue to focus on as we note that the September jobseeker numbers are around 50% higher than the same time last year, and are up on the past month,” continues Anne

The results from Stats NZ show there were 22,000 fewer employed people in New Zealand this September quarter than in the June 2020 quarter.

“We are seeing the impacts of COVID-19 in these results and although Taranaki is doing better than the national average, we still have a way to go in our return to better. There’s a need for job retention and high-level skill redeployment and attraction, to help ensure both stability and sustainable growth in our employment rates,” says Venture Taranaki Chief Executive Justine Gilliland.

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