Key insights
- For almost 10 years from September 2008 to June 2018, the number of New Zealanders on Jobseeker Support averaged 26,297 less than the number who were officially unemployed.
- In September 2018, the number of Kiwis on Jobseeker Support (129,645, 4.3%) exceeded the official unemployment rate (121,766, 4.0%) for the first time.
- In the almost 4 years from September 2018 to June 2022, the number of New Zealanders on Jobseeker Support averaged 42,737 more than the number who were officially unemployed.
- Since September 2008:
- The number of officially unemployed New Zealanders has decreased 4,982 (-4.6%) despite the 18-64-year old population increasing 489,960.
- The number of New Zealanders on a Jobseeker Support Benefit has increased 75,160 (+78.6%).
- As at June 2022, there are now 67,348 (65%) more Kiwis on Jobseeker Support (179,763, 5.4%) than Kiwis who are officially unemployed (103,415, 3.3%).
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Key questions
- What changed late-2017/early-2018 in the way:
- Jobseeker Support Benefits were allocated?
- Official unemployment was measured?
- If the official unemployment rate consistently averaged 0.9 percentage points higher than Jobseeker Support for almost 10 years from September 2008 to June 2018, does that mean that a comparable unemployment rate today is closer to 6.5% (5.4% + 0.9%)?
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Have your say
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Full data
Please contact us if you would like the full analysis.
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Other forms of social welfare not included in this data
- Supplementary Assistance:
- Special Benefit (SPB) or Temporary Additional Support (TAS)
- Disability Allowance (DA)
- Accommodation Supplement (AS)
- Unsupported Child’s Benefit (UCB) and Orphan’s Benefit (OB)
- Hardship Assistance:
- Special Needs Grant (SNG)
- Advances (ADV)
- Recoverable Assistance Payment (RAP)
(the assistance above includes the following reasons: Food, Accomodation Related, Medical and Associated Costs, People Affected by Benefit Stand Downs, Electricity and Gas, School Education Costs, Re-establishment Grants, Driver Licence, Health Related, Long-Acting Reversible Contraception, Emergency Housing Grant, Other)
- Civil Defence Payments
- Working For Families tax credits:
- Family Tax Credit
- Minimum Family Tax Credit
- In-work Tax Credit
- Best Start
- Paid Parental Leave
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Definitions from Work and Income
- Jobseeker Support is a weekly payment that helps people while they are looking for work or can’t work right now.
- Sole Parent Support is a weekly payment that helps single parents find part-time work or get ready for future work.
- Supported Living Payment is a weekly payment to help you if you have, or are caring for someone with a significant health condition, injury or disability meaning that suitable work is unlikely within the next 2 years.
- Other Main Benefits:
- Emergency benefit – If you can’t support yourself and don’t qualify for any other payment, you may be able to get the Emergency Benefit.
- Emergency Maintenance Allowance is assistance that may be paid to sole parents who do not qualify for any other payments.
- Jobseeker Support Student Hardship (no definition given on the definitions page)
- Widow’s Benefit Overseas (no definition given on the definitions page)
- Youth Payment helps young people aged 16 or 17 who can’t live with their parents or guardian and aren’t supported by them or anyone else. (Not included in the 18-24 year-old data in the graph above).
- Young Parent Payment helps young parents aged 16-19 year olds.
- Sole Parent Support Overseas (no definition given on the definitions page)
- New Zealand Superannuation is a fortnightly payment for people aged 65 and over.
- Veteran’s Pension is a fortnightly payment for veterans who have qualifying operational service in the New Zealand Armed Forces.
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Other notes
- All publicly available data has been included.
- Jobseeker Support includes:
- Jobseeker – Work Ready
- Jobseeker – Health Condition or Disability
- There isn’t yet a population estimate for June 2022, so we applied the same -510 18-64-year-old population decrease from December 2021 to March 2022, to March 2022 to June 2022.
- All numbers are provisional and subject to revision.
Thank you to the Factors who helped pull this together.
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Sources
- 2017-2022 https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/statistics/benefit/index.html > https://www.msd.govt.nz/documents/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/statistics/benefit/2022/quarterly-benefit-fact-sheets-work-and-income-regions-tables-june-2022.xlsx (Main benefits-last 5 years)
- 2013-2018 https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/statistics/benefit/archive-2018.html
- 2008-2013 https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/statistics/benefit/archive-2013.html
- Other Main Benefits, Supplementary Assistance, Hardship Assistance, Civil Defence Payments
https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/statistics/benefit/index.html > https://www.msd.govt.nz/documents/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/statistics/benefit/2022/quarterly-benefit-fact-sheets-national-benefit-tables-june-2022.xlsx - Definitions https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/products/a-z-benefits/index.html#j
Data published by Ministry of Social Development
(c) Crown Copyright
Licensed for use under the creative commons attribution licence (BY) 4.0
- NZs population
https://infoshare.stats.govt.nz/ (Population > Population Estimates – DPE > Estimated Resident Population by Age and Sex (1991+) (Annual-Mar)/Jun/Sep/Dec) - Unemployment rate
https://www.stats.govt.nz/indicators/unemployment-rate/
This work is based on/includes Stats NZ’s data which are licensed by Stats NZ for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
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