Statistics NZ released their employment figures for the June 2017 quarter (i.e. for 3 months).
Salaries and wages increased by 1.7%. The minimum hourly wage increased by 50c to $15.75. However, for those people working full time, the average paid per hour was $38.70. This includes people on a salary who probably earn much more than those on a wage.
Unemployment is low, at 4.8% which is the lowest since December 2008, the start of the global financial crisis. This is the percentage of working age people who are looking for work but can’t find it.
Unemployment rate was the highest in Northland at 7.1% and the lowest in the Nelson, Marlborough and West Coast area at 3%.
One group of concern in the age group 15 to 24 is those who are Not in Employment, Education, or Training. They are called the NEET group. The figure for this group is 11.1% which means that 11.1% of young people in that age group are NEETs.
Vocabulary
• i.e. – Latin id est, which means that is, it explains what is meant
• salary – an annual amount e.g. $50,000; it is paid weekly (divided by 52), fortnightly (divided by 26), or monthly (divided by 12).
• wages – paid weekly for the number of hours worked
• NEET from the first letter of the words Not Employment, Education, Training