Radio New Zealand
Saturday, July 9, 2016
Northland’s unemployment rate has dropped below 8 for the first time since the global financial crisis. But unemployment in the region has peaked around 10% several times in the years since 2009.
Northland Regional Council economist Darryl Jones said that the average unemployment rate for the year ending in June was 7.9%
But the average concealed a gender difference: the male unemployment rate fell to 6.8% while the female rate remains stubbornly high at 9.1%
Men in demand
Mr Jones said that was because there had been more jobs available in industries that traditionally employed men, such as construction and manufacturing.
“We have seen some good growth in employment in construction, agriculture and forestry and in manufacturing,” he said.
“There hasn’t been over the shorter term the increase in jobs in the social services and administrative areas where you traditionally see a greater proportion of females employed.”
In the past year, the number of people in full or part-time work in Northland has increased by 300.
But Darryl Jones said Northland’s unemployment rate was still the highest in the country.
The lowest was Canterbury’s at 3.5%
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Radio New Zealand Picture by Diego Opatowski
