Health care leads annual increase in New Zealand’s filled jobs

WELLINGTON, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Filled jobs numbers in New Zealand’s health care and social assistance industry had a 5.3 percent, or 13,692 jobs, annual increase for the year ended December 2023, according to the statistics department Stats NZ on Thursday.

Across all industries filled jobs numbers were up 2.9 percent in the December 2023 quarter compared with the December 2022 quarter, Stats NZ said.

"Filled jobs in the health care industry steadily grew throughout 2023 after a relatively subdued period in the second half of 2022," said Stats NZ business employment insights manager Sue Chapman.

Stats NZ calculates filled jobs by averaging weekly jobs paid throughout the quarter, based on tax data.

Public administration and safety saw the next largest increase, up 8.5 percent in the year ended December 2023, contributed mostly by the extra workers employed to help with the general election in October last year, Chapman said.

New Zealanders’ total gross earnings for the year ended December 2023 increased by 14.2 billion NZ dollars (8.71 billion U.S. dollars), or 9 percent, from the year ended December 2022, with the health care and social assistance industry being the largest contributor to this increase, up 17 percent from the previous year, followed by public administration, and education and training, she said.