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Mike McRoberts
Wed, 04 Feb 2026
Breaking News
New Zealand's unemployment rate has unexpectedly risen to 5.4% in the December quarter, against widespread expectations of a hold at 5.3%. More to come.
Tue 03 Feb 2026 11:24:28pm
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Tue 03 Feb 2026 11:24:28pm
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Unemployment rate at the highest level in over a decade
New Zealand's unemployment rate has unexpectedly risen to 5.4% in the December quarter, against widespread expectations of a hold at 5.3%.
Statistics NZ said that was the highest since the September 2015 quarter, when unemployment was at 5.7%.
The Reserve Bank and economists broadly expected unemployment to hold steady at the end of last year as the economy started to emerge from a long-protracted downturn.
Macroeconomic spokesperson Jason Attewell noted higher levels of engagement in the labour market as both employment and unemployment increased over the December quarter.
Overall, there were 165,000 unemployed people, up by 5000 on the previous quarter.
The so-called ‘underutilisation’ rate was unchanged at 13%, while the employment rate was up a touch to 66.7%.
In terms of inflation, in the year ended December, salary and wage rates rose 2%, compared with the previous year. Average weekly earnings for full-time employees increased from $1651 to $1712.
SFO takes TV producer to court
The Serious Fraud Office has brought 33 charges against a television producer, accusing him of fraudulently obtaining millions of dollars.
The SFO filed the charges in the Auckland District against Alexander Breingan, alleging he made false representations and used forged documents to access more than $4.3m of Government-funded rebates and $10.2m in lending.
The alleged offending relates to 13 TV programmes that were produced or proposed to be produced by Breingan through his Stripe Studios companies, which collapsed in 2024.
The matter was originally referred to the SFO by the New Zealand Film Commission, which raised concerns about applications Breingan made for the New Zealand Screen Production rebate.
Breingan currently lives abroad and is yet to appear in court.
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