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 March 2025 quarter were 2.26 million.
In the March 2025 quarter (compared with December 2024 quarter):
- total seasonally adjusted filled jobs were down 0.1 percent (2,499 jobs).
For the year ended March 2025 compared with the year ended March 2024:
- total gross earnings were up 2.3 percent ($4.0 billion).
An annual comparison is used for earnings to account for payroll timing differences between quarters.
| Quarter | Percentage change |
| Mar-19 | 0.9 |
| Jun-19 | 0.4 |
| Sep-19 | 0.5 |
| Dec-19 | 1 |
| Mar-20 | 0.4 |
| Jun-20 | -1.1 |
| Sep-20 | 0.8 |
| Dec-20 | 0 |
| Mar-21 | 0.4 |
| Jun-21 | 1.1 |
| Sep-21 | 1.5 |
| Dec-21 | 0.6 |
| Mar-22 | 0 |
| Jun-22 | 0.2 |
| Sep-22 | 1.2 |
| Dec-22 | 0.4 |
| Mar-23 | 1 |
| Jun-23 | 1.1 |
| Sep-23 | 0.5 |
| Dec-23 | 0.3 |
| Mar-24 | 0.1 |
| Jun-24 | -0.5 |
| Sep-24 | -0.7 |
| Dec-24 | -0.4 |
| Mar-25 | -0.1 |
Filled jobs changes by industry
At an industry level, the largest changes in seasonally adjusted filled jobs in the March 2025 quarter compared with the December 2024 quarter were in:
- construction - down 1.4 percent (2,524 jobs)
- manufacturing - down 0.5 percent (1,153 jobs)
- professional, scientific and technical services - down 0.6 percent (1,041 jobs)
- accommodation and food services - up 0.5 percent (796 jobs)
- health care and social assistance - down 0.3 percent (699 jobs).
Filled jobs changes by region
At a regional level, the largest changes in seasonally adjusted filled jobs compared with December 2024 quarter were in:
- Auckland - down 0.2 percent (1,363 jobs)
- Wellington - down 0.4 percent (1,056 jobs)
- Waikato - up 0.2 percent (438 jobs)
- Manawatū-Whanganui - down 0.3 percent (346 jobs)
- Canterbury - up 0.1 percent (289 jobs).
Filled jobs changes for men and women
In actual terms, from the March 2024 quarter to the March 2025 quarter, the number of filled jobs fell by 2.1 percent (24,458 jobs) for men and fell by 1.3 percent (14,610 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 March 2025, compared with the year ended March 2024, were in:
- health care and social assistance - up 4.4 percent ($950 million)
- education and training - up 4.7 percent ($651 million)
- public administration and safety - up 4.0 percent ($639 million).
Gross earnings
Gross earnings correspond to the amount paid to all employees in the reference quarter. They exclude retirement payments, redundancy payments, and employee benefits. The length of an employee's pay period can cause variability in the number of pay days in the quarter - for example, a fortnightly pay normally occurs twice a month but, on some occasions, can occur three times a month. This can cause volatility in the monthly series.
More data
Employment indicators
Use Infoshare to view and download time-series data for:
Subject category: Industry sectors
Group: Business data collection - BDC
Note that due to a small portion of uncoded data, there will be small differences in the sum for filled jobs by region, age, sex, and the value for total New Zealand.
Monthly enterprise counts, entries, and exits
Subject category: Industry sectors
Group: Business data collection - BDC
Table: Enterprise counts - New Zealand (monthly)
Definitions and metadata
Employment indicators - DataInfo+ provides general methodology and definitions relevant for employment statistics.
Technical enquiries
Declan Tobin
[email protected]
04 931 4600
ISSN 2744-3965
Next release
Business employment data: June 2025 quarter will be released on 9 September 2025.
