Chief Executive of Priority One with Nigel Tutt

 Unemployment figures released by Statistics NZ last week will have a significant effect on the New Zealand and local economy in the year or two ahead. Our country, like the rest of the world, has been grappling with high inflation post-Covid. Of course, high inflation is destructive for an economy so central banks seek to squash it with all their might, which means raising interest rates.

We’ve seen the effect of higher interest rates here mainly in higher mortgage rates, which causes lower consumer spending and reduces inflation. One item that hasn’t been working in the Reserve Bank’s favour however is the extremely tight labour market. The unfortunate reality is when unemployment is very low, wages and costs for business will remain relatively high. The unemployment rates of three per cent-ish that we’ve seen in the past few years is extremely low in historical terms. This holds back efforts to reduce inflation.

Changing

That equation seems to be changing at the moment however, with businesses far less confident in the economy than they have been in the past and some reports of insolvencies and redundancies. Unemployment rates released last week show a jump to 3.9 per cent, with many economists expecting it to move to around five per cent late-2024.

We can expect to see some fallout from that locally, while many view our economy as stronger than NZ’s, we’ve seen a significant drop off in job ads in the last few months. Talking to employers, they are much more cautious but also wary that the talent market remains tight at the moment. While we can expect to see a reduction in hiring intentions, I think we’re a long way away from dramatic changes to unemployment locally.

Immigration

The other large factor in freeing up the tight labour market is immigration, and this is an area where New Zealand has seen dramatic change, with a net increase of around 65,000 people in the last year. While this theoretically means more choice for employers, it also creates additional infrastructure requirements – roads, schools and housing. Locally, this has a spill-over effect, with our population continuing to increase at a relatively high rate, 2.6 per cent last year.

Unfortunately, increases to unemployment are a necessity if we are to reduce inflation, from the most recent stats it looks like the market is finally changing. While we can expect a more subdued employment environment in the short-term, this is needed for a more balanced economy in the longer term. After a wait and see approach to reducing inflation, we can now be confident we are on the right track.