Monday, February 02, 2009

New Zealanders working fewer hours

Working For Families has something to do with this.

Total paid hours, when seasonally adjusted, decreased by 1.4 percent in the year to December 2008, according to the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) released by Statistics New Zealand today. This is the first annual decrease in paid hours since the year to September 1999, and was mainly due to decreases in the manufacturing, construction, and wholesale trade industries. Seasonally adjusted total paid hours also decreased by 1.4 percent in the December 2008 quarter.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

LM: "Working For Families has something to do with this."

Really? Truth is, you don't know that for sure, do you? you're making an assumption. Be honest.

When the workforces of other countries exhibit reductions in hours of paid work, is it due to WFF? Of course not.

KG said...

It could be due to all kinds of things Harpoon, but that doesn't mean WFF isn't responsible in the NZ context.

Anonymous said...

KG ... you're correct. it could also be because in the NZ context there is a mountain range in the South Island, or because John Key is prime Minister, or because Helen Clark likes Opera, or ... anything!