Employment indicators provide an early indication of changes in the labour market.
Key facts
Changes in the seasonally adjusted filled jobs for the December 2024 month (compared with the November 2024 month) were:
- all industries - up 0.1 percent (2,615 jobs) to 2.36 million filled jobs
- primary industries - up 0.2 percent (182 jobs)
- goods-producing industries - down 0.1 percent (452 jobs)
- service industries - up 0.2 percent (4,439 jobs).
The following figures are actual values for December 2024 and are compared with December 2023.
- Filled jobs were 2.39 million, down 27,997 (1.2 percent).
Filled jobs changes by industry
By industry, the largest changes in the number of filled jobs compared with December 2023 were in:
- construction - down 6.1 percent (12,745 jobs)
- health care and social assistance - up 2.8 percent (7,590 jobs)
- administrative and support services - down 6.8 percent (7,068 jobs)
- manufacturing - down 2.5 percent (5,978 jobs)
- professional, scientific, and technical services - down 2.2 percent (4,151 jobs).
Filled jobs changes by region
By region, the largest changes in the number of filled jobs compared with December 2023 were in:
- Auckland - down 1.7 percent (14,026 jobs)
- Wellington - down 1.8 percent (4,784 jobs)
- Manawatū-Whanganui - down 1.5 percent (1,788 jobs)
- Waikato - down 0.6 percent (1,385 jobs)
- Hawke's Bay - down 1.4 percent (1,221 jobs).
Filled jobs changes for men and women
In December 2024 compared with December 2023, the number of filled jobs fell by 1.7 percent (21,113 jobs) for men and fell by 1.0 percent (11,991 jobs) for women.
Filled jobs by age group
By age group, the largest changes in the number of filled jobs compared with December 2023 were in:
- 15-19 years - down 9.2 percent (14,063 jobs)
- 25-29 years - down 4.4 percent (11,556 jobs)
- 35-39 years - up 2.7 percent (7,432 jobs)
- 30-34 years - down 2.2 percent (6,469 jobs)
- 20-24 years - down 2.5 percent (5,864 jobs).
Gross earnings
Actual gross earnings on an accrual basis for the December 2024 month were $16.2 billion, compared with $16.1 billion for the December 2023 month.
About the data
The actual gross earnings in this release were calculated on an accrual basis, where earnings are allocated proportionally to the period in which they are earned.
The accrual method removes the volatility of monthly data. For example, a fortnightly pay period might occur twice in some months and three times in other months.
Due to the shorter time series and minor revisions to data in the actual gross earnings series, the data is not directly comparable to calculations for monthly earnings on a cash basis (which covers the amount paid in the reference month).
Gross earnings on a cash basis can still be accessed with Infoshare.
Actual data published for employment indicators are provisional for three months while additional payday filing data is received.
More data
Use Infoshare to view and download time-series data for:
Employment indicators
Subject category: Work, income, and spending
Group: Employment indicators - MEI
Note that due to a small portion of uncoded data, there will be small differences in the sum for filled jobs by region, age, sex, and the value for total New Zealand.
Definitions and metadata
Employment indicators - DataInfo+ provides general methodology and definitions relevant for employment statistics.
Technical enquiries
Declan Tobin
04 931 4600
[email protected]
Next release
Employment indicators: January 2025 will be released on 28 February 2025.
