New Zealand filled jobs surpass pre-COVID-19 levels

WELLINGTON, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Job numbers reached a new high in April 2021, up 0.3 percent on the previous March 2021 high, New Zealand's statistics department Stats NZ said on Friday.

File photo: AFP

Filled job numbers had peaked in February 2020 before falling 2.1 percent over the March and April 2020 months after accounting for seasonal effects, Stats NZ said, adding this drop coincided with the COVID-19 alert level 4 restrictions, which began in the last week of March and continued through most of April.

"It wasn't until March 2021 that job numbers returned to the February 2020 high," said business insights manager Sue Chapman in a statement.

"It appears that filled jobs have returned to a more regular and upward trend in the last few months, following an eventful 2020 year," she said.

In actual terms, there were approximately 2.24 million jobs in April 2021. This is an increase of over 2.5 percent from April last year, when job numbers fell to 2.18 million over the COVID-19 alert level 4 lockdown, Chapman said.

The industries that were the biggest drivers of this increase were health care and social assistance, construction, public administration and safety, among others.

Transport, postal, and warehousing jobs are down as airline staff numbers have declined since COVID-19 limited international travel, she said.