Employment indicators provide an early indication of changes in the labour market.
Timing of redundancy payments in MEI data: Any reduction in filled jobs from a redundancy payment will be represented in the data over the following month. For example, an employee's job would be counted in May but not in June if their final pay, which includes a redundancy payment, is in May. The MEI measures filled jobs, which means vacancies are not captured.
Key facts
Changes in the seasonally adjusted filled jobs for the June 2024 month (compared with the May 2024 month) were:
- all industries - down 0.1 percent (1,766 jobs) to 2.38 million filled jobs
- primary industries - down 0.5 percent (538 jobs)
- goods-producing industries - up 0.2 percent (798 jobs)
- service industries - down 0.1 percent (2,388 jobs).
| Month | Percentage change |
| Jun-21 | 0.6 |
| Jul-21 | 0.4 |
| Aug-21 | 0.5 |
| Sep-21 | 0.1 |
| Oct-21 | 0.2 |
| Nov-21 | 0.4 |
| Dec-21 | 0.1 |
| Jan-22 | 0.3 |
| Feb-22 | -0.4 |
| Mar-22 | -0.3 |
| Apr-22 | 0.4 |
| May-22 | 0.2 |
| Jun-22 | 0.3 |
| Jul-22 | 0.4 |
| Aug-22 | 0.4 |
| Sep-22 | 0.3 |
| Oct-22 | 0.1 |
| Nov-22 | 0.3 |
| Dec-22 | -0.4 |
| Jan-23 | 0.7 |
| Feb-23 | 0.5 |
| Mar-23 | 0.3 |
| Apr-23 | 0.5 |
| May-23 | 0.2 |
| Jun-23 | 0.2 |
| Jul-23 | 0.1 |
| Aug-23 | 0 |
| Sep-23 | 0.1 |
| Oct-23 | 0.3 |
| Nov-23 | -0.1 |
| Dec-23 | -0.1 |
| Jan-24 | 0.3 |
| Feb-24 | 0 |
| Mar-24 | 0.2 |
| Apr-24 | -0.2 |
| May-24 | -0.3 |
| Jun-24 | -0.1 |
The following figures compare June 2024 actual values with June 2023.
Filled jobs changes by industry
By industry, the largest changes in the number of filled jobs compared with June 2023 were in:
- health care and social assistance - up 5.2 percent (14,047 jobs)
- administrative and support services - down 5.4 percent (5,887 jobs)
- public administration and safety - up 3.6 percent (5,738 jobs)
- retail trade - down 1.8 percent (3,996 jobs)
- professional, scientific, and technical services - down 2.0 percent (3,913 jobs).
Filled jobs changes by region
By region, the largest changes in the number of filled jobs compared with June 2023 were in:
- Canterbury - up 0.8 percent (2,410 jobs)
- Wellington - down 0.5 percent (1,430 jobs)
- Auckland - up 0.1 percent (1,052 jobs)
- Bay of Plenty - up 0.6 percent (903 jobs)
- Otago - up 0.7 percent (811 jobs).
Filled jobs changes for men and women
In June 2024 compared with June 2023, the number of filled jobs fell by 0.4 percent (4,643 jobs) for men and fell by 0.2 percent (1,906 jobs) for women.
Filled jobs by age group
By age group, the largest changes in the number of filled jobs compared with June 2023 were in:
- 15-19 years - down 11.6 percent (16,095 jobs)
- 35-39 years - up 5.6 percent (14,679 jobs)
- 40-44 years - up 4.4 percent (10,557 jobs)
- 25-29 years - down 3.2 percent (8,472 jobs)
- 20-24 years - down 2.6 percent (5,950 jobs).
Gross earnings
Actual gross earnings on an accrual basis for the June 2024 month were $15.1 billion, compared with $14.6 billion for the June 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 are available from Infoshare.
More data
Use Infoshare to view and download time-series data for:
Employment indicators
Subject category: Work, income, and spending
Group: Employment indicators - MEI
Tables:
- Age and region by variable (monthly)
- High level industry by variable (monthly)
- High level industry by variable (qrtly-Feb/May/Aug/Nov)
- High level industry by variable (qrtly-Mar/Jun/Sep/Dec)
- High level industry by variable (qrtly-Jan/Apr/Jul/Oct)
- Industry by variable (monthly)
- Region by variable (monthly)
- Sex and age by variable (monthly)
- Sex and region by variable (monthly)
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
Sue Chapman
03 964 8371
[email protected]
Next release
Employment indicators: July 2024 will be released on 28 August 2024.
