Business employment data includes filled jobs and gross earnings, with breakdowns by industry, sex, age, region, and territorial authority area, using a combination of data from two different Inland Revenue sources: the employer monthly schedule (EMS) and payday filing. Both are associated with PAYE (pay as you earn) tax data.
Key facts
Total actual filled jobs in the December 2023 quarter were 2.32 million.
In the December 2023 quarter (compared with the September 2023 quarter):
- total seasonally adjusted filled jobs - up 0.5 percent (11,025 jobs).
For the year ended December 2023 compared with the year ended December 2022:
- total gross earnings - up 9.0 percent ($14.2 billion).
An annual comparison is used for earnings to account for payroll timing differences between quarters.
| Quarter | Percentage change |
| Dec-17 | 0.5 |
| Mar-18 | 0.8 |
| Jun-18 | 0.3 |
| Sep-18 | 0.2 |
| Dec-18 | 0.9 |
| Mar-19 | 0.9 |
| Jun-19 | 0.4 |
| Sep-19 | 0.5 |
| Dec-19 | 1 |
| Mar-20 | 0.5 |
| Jun-20 | -1 |
| Sep-20 | 0.7 |
| Dec-20 | 0 |
| Mar-21 | 0.4 |
| Jun-21 | 1.1 |
| Sep-21 | 1.3 |
| Dec-21 | 0.7 |
| Mar-22 | 0.1 |
| Jun-22 | 0.2 |
| Sep-22 | 1 |
| Dec-22 | 0.6 |
| Mar-23 | 1.1 |
| Jun-23 | 1 |
| Sep-23 | 0.3 |
| Dec-23 | 0.5 |
Filled jobs changes by industry
At an industry level, the largest changes in seasonally adjusted filled jobs compared with the September 2023 quarter were in:
- public administration and safety - up 4.4 percent (7,003 jobs)
- health care and social assistance - up 1.7 percent (4,497 jobs)
- administrative and support services - down 1.5 percent (1,586 jobs)
- manufacturing - down 0.7 percent (1,562 jobs).
Filled jobs changes by region
At a regional level, the largest changes in seasonally adjusted filled jobs compared with the September 2023 quarter were in:
- Auckland - up 0.6 percent (4,341 jobs)
- Canterbury - up 0.8 percent (2,487 jobs)
- Waikato - up 0.6 percent (1,251 jobs)
- Wellington - up 0.4 percent (918 jobs)
- Hawke's Bay - up 0.8 percent (600 jobs).
Filled jobs changes for men and women
In actual terms, from the December 2022 quarter to the December 2023 quarter, the number of filled jobs rose by 3.2 percent (36,058 jobs) for men and rose by 2.5 percent (28,786) jobs for women.
Earnings by industry
In actual terms and at an industry level, the largest increases in total annual gross earnings for the year ended December 2023, compared with the year ended December 2022, were in:
- health care and social assistance - up 17 percent ($3.1 billion)
- public administration and safety - up 12 percent ($1.6 billion)
- education and training - up 9.7 percent ($1.2 billion).
More data
Business employment data
Use Infoshare to view and download time-series data for:
Subject category: Industry sectors
Group: Business data collection - BDC
Tables
- Age by employment variable (qrtly-Mar/Jun/Sep/Dec)
- Industry by employment variable (qrtly-Mar/Jun/Sep/Dec)
- Region by employment variable (qrtly-Mar/Jun/Sep/Dec)
- Sex by employment variable (qrtly-Mar/Jun/Sep/Dec)
- Territorial authority by employment variable (qrtly-Mar/Jun/Sep/Dec)
Note that due to a small portion of uncoded data, there will be minor differences in the sum for filled jobs by region, age, sex, and the value for total New Zealand.
Definitions and metadata
Employment indicators - DataInfo+ provides general methodology and definitions relevant for employment statistics.
Technical enquiries
Susan Wang
03 964 8496
[email protected]
ISSN 2744-3965
Next release
Business employment data: March 2024 quarter will be released on 10 June 2024.
