Stats NZ’s monthly employment indicator showed a 0.3% rise in filled jobs in August. This measure has more or less returned to its pre-Covid level after a sharp drop during the April lockdown. However, it hasn’t kept up with the growth in the working-age population over that time, which reconciles it with the ongoing rise in Jobseeker benefit numbers. The MEI is drawn from income tax data, giving it a very high level of coverage. In contrast, the Household Labour Force Survey covers a small percentage of the population, and is subject to sizeable sampling errors even on a quarterly basis. The MEI is another ... (full story)