LONDON: Gisborne’s unemployment problems, already the worst in New Zealand, have grown worse, new statistics show. Figures provided by Statistics New Zealand to The Gisborne Herald today show at the end of last month Gisborne’s unemployment rate had climbed to 10.9 percent, up from 10.3 percent at the same time last year and almost two percent worse than in the previous quarter.
In total, the figures represent a rise in the region’s jobless of about 600 more people out of work, from the same time last year, with the region’s jobless total now standing at 3300. But there was also a rise in the regional workforce, which grew from 26,300 to 30,000, over the last 12 months.
According to the Government’s official Labour Market statistics the unemployment rate for the combined Gisborne/Hawke’s Bay area was 8.4 percent ( the same as Northland), but when taken separately, Hawke’s Bay’s unemployment rate was just 7.4 percent, compared with 10.9 percent in Gisborne. Statistics NZ pointed out that the additional survey estimates provided were “below the design level” and should be treated as indicative only.
