Next release
New Zealand's Unemployment Rate measures the share of the labour force without a job and looking for work. It is released quarterly as part of the labour market report.
Higher unemployment can point to weaker demand for workers and more room for RBNZ rate cuts. NZD traders compare the rate with employment and wage data, since labour market signals are not always consistent.
Usual effect: An actual figure below the forecast is generally good for the New Zealand dollar; a figure above the forecast is generally bad for it.
Release history
| Date | Actual | Forecast | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.6% | – | 5.4% |
Other high impact NZD events
Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Eurostat, European Central Bank, Statistisches Bundesamt (Destatis) (dl-de/by-2-0), Office for National Statistics (licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0), Bank of England, Bank of Canada, Australian Bureau of Statistics and Reserve Bank of Australia (both CC BY 4.0), Statistics Bureau of Japan, Bank of Japan, Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), Swiss National Bank, Stats NZ (licensed by Stats NZ for re-use under the CC BY 4.0 licence), Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the National Bureau of Statistics of China. Canadian figures: Adapted from Statistics Canada, Consumer Price Index, Labour Force Survey, GDP by industry and Retail trade, monthly. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product. BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov. This product uses the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) Data API but is not endorsed or certified by BEA. This product uses the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau. © 2026 Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Content from the New York Fed subject to the Terms of Use at newyorkfed.org. Philadelphia Fed figures: Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey. This service uses API functions from e-Stat, however its contents are not guaranteed by government. Chinese figures: Quoted from the website of the National Bureau of Statistics (www.stats.gov.cn).
