New Zealand's jobless rate hits 6 year high

WELLINGTON: New Zealand's jobless rate hit a six-year high in the first quarter as the country's recession deepened.

The latest data from Statistics New Zealand released Thursday showed the per centage of jobless rising to 5 per cent in the three months ended March 31 from 4.7 per cent in the previous quarter.

The total of people unemployed was 115,000, up some 7,000 in the three months to March 31.

Rising for the fifth consecutive quarter from a record low of 3.5 per cent in the December 2007 quarter, the unemployment rate reached 5 per cent the first time since March 2003.

But the increase in unemployment wasn't as bad as feared. Economists had forecast the jobless rate to rise to 5.3 per cent.

Employment Minister Paula Bennett said the new figures were part of a concerning trend.

But New Zealand was faring better than some other developed countries, including the United States, which has an unemployment rate of 8.5 per cent, she said.