Unemployment rate down

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

A fall in unemployment and the regional labour force here has shown positive signs of post-Covid-19 recovery and the “ever-present” economic threat posed by the pandemic.

Estimates provided to The Gisborne Herald by Statistics NZ show when considered separately from Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne’s unemployment rate at the end of March was 5.1 percent — down from 6.4 percent the same time last year.

The number of people classed as unemployed fell by 500 to 1400.

However, the number of people in employment has also fallen — down by 900 to 26,300.

That corresponded with a fall in the regional labour force, which decreased from 29,000 to 27,700.

Labour force participation rate, which is the percentage of the civilian population 16 years and older who are working or actively looking for work, also fell — from 74.1 percent last year to 67 percent.

The number of people not in the labour force rose 3500 to 13,700.

Another 1400 people were classed as not in employment education or training (NEET). That was the same as last year.

Trust Tairawhiti senior employment co-ordinator Alex Hawea said a key point was the volatility in data and the labour force when looking at the

Covid-19 pandemic implications from 12 months.

“The 12-month snapshot of NEET rates shows as being similar to 12 months ago, however, from 2019 to current there has been a significant decline in the overall NEET percentage for the region — 20.9 percent in 2019 to 16.9 percent now. We are seeing positive signs in overall data from this time last year. We are in the back end of one of our peak employment seasons as a region, namely the closing horticulture harvest season.

“Our region assigned significant resources this year to aid in harvesting of crops and our community came to the party.

The lack of international workers, however, has potentially skewed numbers when we look at overall numbers of people in the workforce this time last year versus the people coming off benefits.

“The impact of Covid-19 is still washing up in data across economic reporting so it is still hard to get a hard comparison.

“Indications show a drop in unemployment but the demand in the workforce is still ever-present.”

Gisborne Chamber of Commerce president Belinda Mackay said there were positives and some cause for concern in the figures.

“A 5.1 percent unemployment rate is significantly lower than where we thought the region would be post-lockdown,” she said. “This shows the robustness of the region’s primary industries, the work put in by Trust Tairawhiti and Gisborne District Council in their Covid-19 recovery packages and the fact our region has been less affected by border closures than other regions.

“Of concern is the decline of our regional labour force by 3500 people in a region that is crying out for workers.

“It seems some have gone into new training opportunities but there are a significant number of people who appear to have dropped out of the workforce.

“The work that iwi groups, training industries and Trust Tairawhiti are doing around pastoral care and workforce training is important so we don’t lose these workers in the long term.”