The unemployment rate rose to 5.7 percent in the December 2014 quarter, while the labour force participation rate reached a record 69.7 percent, Statistics New Zealand said today. “Employment didn’t keep up with the record number of people entering the labour force, so even though employment growth was also strong over the quarter, the unemployment rate increased," labour market and households statistics manager Diane Ramsay said Annually, the number of people employed rose 3.5 percent in the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS). While Auckland and Canterbury remain key contributors to national employment ... (full story)