Reasons for leaving last job for people who are currently unemployed in New Zealand
By sex, excluding people who did not specify reasons, 2025 Q4, thousands of people
| Sex | Reason for leaving last job | Thousands of people |
|---|---|---|
| Female | COVID-19 related reasons | None |
| Female | Dissatisfied with job / conditions | 6.7 |
| Female | End of temporary / seasonal / contract job | 10.8 |
| Female | Enrolled in education / training | 6.0 |
| Female | Made redundant / laid off / business closed | 7.4 |
| Female | Moved location | 5.6 |
| Female | Other | 1.7 |
| Female | Own sickness / illness / injury | 4.1 |
| Female | Parental / family responsibilities | 8.7 |
| Female | Retired | None |
| Male | COVID-19 related reasons | None |
| Male | Dissatisfied with job / conditions | 6.3 |
| Male | End of temporary / seasonal / contract job | 13.1 |
| Male | Enrolled in education / training | 6.1 |
| Male | Made redundant / laid off / business closed | 17.4 |
| Male | Moved location | 3.7 |
| Male | Other | 3.8 |
| Male | Own sickness / illness / injury | 6.7 |
| Male | Parental / family responsibilities | 3.2 |
| Male | Retired | None |
Definitions
Labour force: members of the working-age population, who during the survey reference week, were classified as 'employed' or 'unemployed’.
Working-age population: the usually resident, non-institutionalised, civilian population of New Zealand aged 15 years and over. This is the target population for this survey.
Not in the labour force: any person in the working-age population who is neither employed nor unemployed. For example, this residual category includes people who:
- are retired
- have personal or family responsibilities such as unpaid housework and childcare
- attend educational institutions
- are permanently unable to work due to physical or mental disabilities,
- were temporarily unavailable for work in the survey reference week
- are not actively seeking work.
Unemployed: all people in the working-age population who, during the reference week, were without a paid job, available for work, and had either actively sought work in the past four weeks ending with the reference week, or had a new job to start within the next four weeks.
For more information
Changes to data collection/processing
This release incorporates revisions to historical household labour force survey data to account for the latest national population estimates. As such, figures published in this update may differ from those previously published.
Data provided by
Dataset name
Household Labour Force Survey: Labour Force Status by Sex by Reason for Leaving Last Job (Quarterly) December 2025
Webpage:
https://infoshare.stats.govt.nz/
How to find the data
At URL provided, select 'Work income and spending > Household Labour Force Survey - HLF > Labour Force Status by Sex by Reason for Leaving Last Job (Qrtly-Mar/Jun/Sep/Dec)'. To create this dataset, every variable was selected.
Import & extraction details
File as imported: Household Labour Force Survey: Labour Force Status by Sex by Reason for Leaving Last Job (Quarterly) December 2025
From the dataset Household Labour Force Survey: Labour Force Status by Sex by Reason for Leaving Last Job (Quarterly) December 2025, this data was extracted:
- Rows: 5-164
- Columns: 2-145
- Provided: 11,520 data points
This data forms the table Labour Force - Reasons for leaving last job by sex and whether unemployed or not in the labour force 1986 Q1–2025 Q4.
Dataset originally released on:
February 04, 2026
Purpose of collection
The primary purpose of the survey is to estimate the number of people employed, unemployed, and not in the labour force (NILF), and from them, the unemployment rate for the New Zealand labour market. The Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) is designed to produce statistics at the family level, and use of the survey for a purpose for which it was not designed is inevitably subject to some limitations.