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New Zealand Unemployment rate lifts to 6.7pc
New Zealand's unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 6.7pc in the first quarter after the labour force swelled to a three-year high as more people started looking for work in what's been a tight jobs market. The kiwi dollar fell after the data was released. The unemployment rate rose 0.3 percentage points to 6.7 per cent in the three months ended March 31, from a revised 6.4 per cent in the prior quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand's household labour force survey. That's higher than the 6.3 per cent forecast in a Reuters survey of economists. While the number of unemployed people climbed 6.1 per cent to ... (full story)