NZ unemployment rate
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.6% (Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa, Jun 2026 qtr).
Updated
The unemployment rate and number of unemployed people from the Household Labour Force Survey, seasonally adjusted, quarterly from 1986.
Labour force participation rate, employment rate, number employed and working-age population from the Household Labour Force Survey, seasonally adjusted, quarterly from 1986.
Survey estimates with sampling error; quarter-to-quarter moves of a few tenths of a point may not be significant. 'Unemployed' means without a job, available and actively seeking work; it is not the same as receiving a benefit.
Employment, pay and benefit figures cover different groups. Average hourly earnings summarise paid work, while unemployment uses the labour force definition and benefit counts use eligibility rules. Read those definitions before comparing the measures.
Read the period beside each number before comparing it with another figure. A monthly observation, a quarterly result and a financial year cover different spans of time. The latest release can also revise earlier observations. The chart and downloads keep the published periods so you can check which figures are being compared. A change in unemployment describes what happened during that period; it does not by itself explain why it happened or identify the effect of a government policy. Definitions and coverage matter as much as the size of a change.
Sources: Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa. Last retrieved 10 October 2026.