Employment and labour force participation: NZ data and downloads
Labour force participation rate was 70.7% in Jun 2026 qtr, up 0.2 points on a year earlier.
Updated
Source: Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa. Last retrieved 10 October 2026.
Employment and labour force participation, %, Mar 1986 qtr to Jun 2026 qtr
Labour force participation rateEmployment rate
Show the figures
| Period | Labour force participation rate (%) | Employment rate (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 2026 qtr | 70.7% | 66.7% |
| Mar 2026 qtr | 70.4% | 66.7% |
| Dec 2025 qtr | 70.5% | 66.7% |
| Sep 2025 qtr | 70.3% | 66.6% |
| Jun 2025 qtr | 70.5% | 66.8% |
| Mar 2025 qtr | 70.7% | 67.1% |
| Dec 2024 qtr | 70.8% | 67.2% |
| Sep 2024 qtr | 71.1% | 67.6% |
| Jun 2024 qtr | 71.6% | 68.3% |
| Mar 2024 qtr | 71.5% | 68.3% |
| Dec 2023 qtr | 71.8% | 68.9% |
| Sep 2023 qtr | 72.0% | 69.2% |
| Jun 2023 qtr | 72.4% | 69.7% |
| Mar 2023 qtr | 72.1% | 69.6% |
| Dec 2022 qtr | 71.8% | 69.4% |
| Sep 2022 qtr | 71.7% | 69.3% |
| Jun 2022 qtr | 70.9% | 68.5% |
| Mar 2022 qtr | 71.0% | 68.6% |
| Dec 2021 qtr | 71.0% | 68.7% |
| Sep 2021 qtr | 71.1% | 68.8% |
June 2026 quarterLabour force participation rate 70.7%Employment rate 66.7%
Lines break at accounting-basis changes and missing periods. Source: Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa.
Employment and labour force participation: NZ data and downloads: definitions
Labour force participation rate, employment rate, number employed and working-age population from the Household Labour Force Survey, seasonally adjusted, quarterly from 1986.
Employment and labour force participation: NZ data and downloads: comparison limits
These affect how the figures can be compared.
- Working-age population is everyone aged 15 and over living in NZ (not 15–64).
Employment and labour force participation: NZ data and downloads: data by period
The latest ten periods for up to the first six series. Downloads contain every published observation.
| Period | Labour force participation rate | Employment rate | People employed (thousands) | Working-age population (thousands) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2026 qtr | 70.7% | 66.7% | 2,905 thousand | 4,353 thousand |
| Mar 2026 qtr | 70.4% | 66.7% | 2,892 thousand | 4,338 thousand |
| Dec 2025 qtr | 70.5% | 66.7% | 2,886 thousand | 4,326 thousand |
| Sep 2025 qtr | 70.3% | 66.6% | 2,871 thousand | 4,312 thousand |
| Jun 2025 qtr | 70.5% | 66.8% | 2,872 thousand | 4,299 thousand |
| Mar 2025 qtr | 70.7% | 67.1% | 2,878 thousand | 4,290 thousand |
| Dec 2024 qtr | 70.8% | 67.2% | 2,880 thousand | 4,284 thousand |
| Sep 2024 qtr | 71.1% | 67.6% | 2,891 thousand | 4,274 thousand |
| Jun 2024 qtr | 71.6% | 68.3% | 2,909 thousand | 4,262 thousand |
| Mar 2024 qtr | 71.5% | 68.3% | 2,905 thousand | 4,251 thousand |
Employment and labour force participation: NZ data and downloads: questions for your AI
Download the file, attach it in the assistant you use, then paste the prompt. Whatever it tells you is its reading of the data, not ours.
- 1Download labour-force.csv
- 2Attach it in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or another assistant
- 3Paste this prompt
The attached CSV is Employment and labour force participation (labour-force), from Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa, Household Labour Force Survey. Describe how each measure has changed, naming its unit and period. Treat changes in basis and missing periods as breaks. Distinguish observation from explanation. Limitations: Working-age population is everyone aged 15 and over living in NZ (not 15–64).. Do not infer causation from changes during government terms.
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Employment and labour force participation: NZ data and downloads: sources
The source publication, licence and snapshot used to build this page.
- Organisation
- Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa, Household Labour Force Survey
- Licence
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). This work is based on Stats NZ's data which are licensed by Stats NZ for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
- Reuse limits
- Photos, graphics and logos are excluded. Stats NZ logos and government emblems must not be used.
- Snapshot
- data/raw/statsnz-hlfs/2026-10-10_ea821e39d2b7.csv
- SHA256
- ea821e39d2b778d1b34e17a4eb81cb3e6c9748a395580b049f178864c558e540
- Retrieved
- 10 October 2026