Labour market glossary of terms and sources
This glossary contains some definitions for terms and ideas found in labour market reports.
On this page
| Indicator | Measure | Source | Date | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Economic Growth | Gross Domestic Product | Stats NZ, National Accounts | Mar-18 | Production measure, seasonally adjusted chain-volume series expressed in 2009/10 prices |
| Labour demand | Employment | Stats NZ, Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) | Jun-18 | Seasonally adjusted, number of people in employment in the working-age population |
| Labour demand | Employment by industry | Stats NZ, Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) | Jun-18 | Employment by industry (ANZSIC 2006) |
| Labour demand | Full-time/part-time employment growth | Stats NZ, Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) | Jun-18 | Full time = 30 hours per week or more. Figures are not seasonally adjusted. |
| Labour demand | Employment by gender | Stats NZ, Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) | Jun-18 | Employment by gender. Figures are not seasonally adjusted. |
| Labour demand | Consensus employment forecasts | NZ Institute of Economic Research | Jun-18 | An average of New Zealand economic forecasts compiled from a survey of financial and economic agencies |
| Labour demand | Employment by region | Stats NZ, Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) | Jun-18 | Number of people in employment by region. Figures are not seasonally adjusted. |
| Labour market matching | Unemployment rate | Stats NZ, Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) | Jun-18 | Seasonally adjusted, unemployment/total labour force |
|
Labour market matching |
Unemployment by gender, ethnicity and long-term unemployed | Stats NZ, Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) | Jun-18 | Unemployment rate by ethnicity for total response ethnic group. Long-term unemployment (more than 6 months) excludes duration not specified. |
| Labour market matching | Underutilisation rate by gender | Stats NZ, Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) | Jun-18 | Seasonally adjusted number of underutilised persons/extended labour force. Underutilisation rate includes people who are either unemployed, underemployed or in the potential labour force |
| Labour market matching | Youth NEET | Stats NZ, Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) | Jun-18 | Seasonally adjusted, people aged 15-24 not in employment, education or training (includes those caring for children or others) |
| Labour market matching | Job vacancies | Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE), Jobs Online | Jun-18 | All Vacancies Index - trend series of advertised vacancy growth on the main internet job boards. |
| Labour market matching | Vacancies per applicant | SEEK NZ, SEEK Employment Index | Jun-18 | Trend series of change in the number of vacancies per applicant on the SEEK internet job board. As the index goes up there are fewer applicants for each vacancy and is consistent with a fall in surplus labour. SEEK had been re-indexed the data to 2010. |
| Labour market matching | Difficulty finding skilled labour | NZIER, Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion (QSBO) | Jun-18 | Difficulty in finding the skilled staff you want today compared with three months ago - % of firms finding it harder minus % of firms finding it easier – a score above zero indicates it is getting harder to find skilled staff. |
| Labour market matching | Unemployment by region | Stats NZ, Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) | Jun-18 | Unemployment rate by region. Figures are not seasonally adjusted. |
| Labour supply | Labour force participation rate | Stats NZ, Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) | Jun-18 | Seasonally adjusted, total labour force/working age (15+) population |
| Labour supply | Labour force participation rate by gender | Stats NZ, Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) | Jun-18 | Labour force participation rate by gender |
| Labour supply | Labour force participation rate by ethnicity | Stats NZ, Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) | Jun-18 | Participation rate by ethnicity for total response ethnic group. |
| Labour supply | Migration | Stats NZ, International travel and migration | Jun-18 | Net permanent and long-term (+12 months) migration per year, unadjusted data |
| Labour supply | Departures to Australia | Stats NZ, International travel and migration | Jun-18 | Total permanent and long-term departures to Australia per year |
| Labour supply | Retirement rates | Stats NZ, National Labour Force Projections | 2018 | MBIE calculations of the net number of people aged 50 years and over who will leave the labour force each year based on Stats NZ median scenario labour force projections (50th percentile) |
| Labour supply | Immigration Approvals | MBIE, Migration Trends & Outlook | Jun-18 | Previous year and year-to-date number of visa approval under the Essential Skills policy, which includes people whose employer has been ‘Approved in Principle’ to recruit from overseas |
| Labour supply | Participation rate by region | Stats NZ, Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) | Jun-18 | Participation rate by region. Figures are not seasonally adjusted. |
| Labour quality | Qualification attainment rate (25-34 year olds with level 4+ quals) | Ministry of Education, HLFS | Jun-18 | Number and share of 25 to 34 year olds first time completions of a qualification at NCEA level 4 or above |
| Labour quality | Degree holders in the workforce | MBIE estimates based on HLFS | Jun-18 | Number of people with a Bachelor's degree or higher aged 15-64 years in the labour force/total population aged 15-64 years |
| Labour quality | 18 year olds with NCEA level 2 or higher | Ministry of Education | Jul-16 | Rate of 18 year olds attaining at least NCEA level 2 or equivalent qualification. |
| Labour quality | School leavers with less than NCEA level 1 | Ministry of Education | Jul-16 | School leaver qualifications - those with little or no qualifications. |
| Labour quality | Qualification attainment rate by region (25-34 year olds with level 4+ quals) | MBIE estimates based on HLFS | Jun-18 | Number and share of 25 to 34 year olds first time completions of a qualification at NCEA level 4 or above, split by region; Reported as annual average. |
| Workplace performance | Skilled occupation rate | MBIE, Direct Estimate of Employment (DEE) | Mar 2018 | Number of people employed in a skilled occupation (ANZSCO level 1-3)/ total number of employed people. These estimates are prepared using 2013 Census data and are not comparable to previously published estimates. |
| Workplace performance | Private sector productivity related wage growth | Stats NZ, Labour Cost Index (LCI) | Jun-18 | New wage growth measure. This is the difference between the unadjusted labour cost index (which includes productivity related pay increases, for example due to performance or experience) and the adjusted (official) Labour Cost Index (which removes these sorts of increases, and is a pure wage inflation measure). |
| Workplace performance | Work-related fatal injuries | Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC); WorkSafe NZ; Statistics New Zealand, Serious Injuries Outcome Indicators | 2014-16 | Age standardised rates. The rates are per 100,000 person years at risk. Three-year moving averages are calculated, no data presented for 2010. |
| Workplace performance | Work-related serious non-fatal claims | ACC; Ministry of Health, National Minimum Dataset; Statistics New Zealand, Serious Injuries Outcome Indicators | 2014-16 | Age standardised rates. The rates are per 100,000 person years at risk. |
| Workplace performance | Labour Junket efficiency | World Economic Forum, Annual Global Competitiveness Report | 2017/2018 | Measure based on an international opinion survey of business executives, incorporating “cooperation in labour-employer relations, flexibility of wage determination, rigidity of employment, hiring and firing practices, firing costs, pay and productivity, reliance on professional management, brain drain and female participation in the labour force.” |
| Workplace performance |
Employment confidence |
Westpac McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index (survey of employees) |
Jun-18 |
Index based on measures of employee perceptions of future job prospects, job security and earnings growth: index is net measure of positive and negative perceptions, 100 = neutral |