New Zealand's 4% unemployment rate masks a deeper Covid hit to the labour market | Brad Olsen

Hundreds of thousands want more work, and the drop in hours worked – largely as a result of coronavirus – is the biggest in 30 years

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New Zealand’s unemployment rate has implausibly fallen to 4.0% in the June 2020 quarter, presenting a strong picture of the labour market even as the Covid-19 pandemic takes an axe to the global economy.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that this announcement is a sign of good news. Instead, the release of June’s labour market statistics presented a still-sobering view of the country’s economy.

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