The New Zealand labour market was affected in many ways:
- people worked fewer hours
- the number of jobs available fell
- unemployment rose
- more people went into study
- there were fewer, and smaller, wage rises
- labour market turnover slowed.
Each heading includes a graph. Here are a couple:
My comment: This shows the double whammy for the economy. The state has to find more money to support increased student numbers while receiving less tax revenue from the numbers employed. Latest data (first half of 2011) shows a further 3.5% increase on 2010.
The only good news is:
During the recession, New Zealand experienced a smaller rise in unemployment than a number of other OECD countries. It is possible to compare New Zealand’s unemployment rate with other countries using the seasonally adjusted harmonised unemployment rate published by the OECD. Over the recession, New Zealand’s unemployment rate rose 1.2 percentage points. During the same period, the unemployment rate rose 3.3 percentage points in the United States, 2.0 percentage points in the United Kingdom, and 1.2 percentage points in Australia.
And the conclusion:
The recession in 2008 and 2009 in New Zealand and the rest of the world continues to affect the New Zealand labour market. There have been falls in employment, falls in hours paid and worked, as well as rises in the number of people unemployed. People have responded by leaving the labour force. In some cases, they have decided to do more tertiary study.
These factors have affected companies to varying degrees, depending on firm size.
The impact of the recession on the New Zealand labour market will continue to be felt for a long time.
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