Nearly 90 per cent of the 7500 new jobs created in the Northland region last year were full-time jobs, according to the office of Employment Minister Steven Joyce.
The figure is important because the rise in the region's employment level in 2014 - as recorded by Statistics New Zealand's householdlabour force survey - has been repeatedly cited by Mr Joyce during the Northland byelection campaign as evidence that National's broad economic policies, along with its business development programmes, are working in an electorate which historically has had one of the lowest increases in growth.
Statistics New Zealand did not provide a detailed breakdown of the increase in numbers employed in the December year in published material accompanying the survey's release. However, the minister's office sought and obtained such a breakdown which showed around 6600 of the new jobs were full-time and the remainder part-time.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, who is standing in the byelection, has questioned the overall employment figures, saying there is no solid evidence on the ground of new jobs.
The increase in the numbers employed was not accompanied by an equally significant drop in the number of people categorised as unemployed. The regional data also takes in Whangarei which is not in the Northland electorate.
The 7500 increase consisted of managers (+3500), technicians (+1800), sales workers (+1600), clerical and administrative workers (+1000), machinery operators and drivers (+300), and labourers (+200). Those numbers were offset by a 700 decrease in professionals and a 200 decrease in community and personal service workers.
