People who remained unemployed for more than one year in New Zealand
Compared to total unemployed population, year ended June 1986–2026, thousands
| Year ended June | Duration of unemployment | Thousands of people |
|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Over 1 year | 0 |
| 1986 | Total | 0 |
| 1987 | Over 1 year | 5.0 |
| 1987 | Total | 70.5 |
| 1988 | Over 1 year | 8.0 |
| 1988 | Total | 80.1 |
| 1989 | Over 1 year | 15.0 |
| 1989 | Total | 112.6 |
| 1990 | Over 1 year | 21.3 |
| 1990 | Total | 121.9 |
| 1991 | Over 1 year | 31.3 |
| 1991 | Total | 156.9 |
| 1992 | Over 1 year | 48.6 |
| 1992 | Total | 184.7 |
| 1993 | Over 1 year | 55.2 |
| 1993 | Total | 176.1 |
| 1994 | Over 1 year | 49.6 |
| 1994 | Total | 159.6 |
| 1995 | Over 1 year | 33.9 |
| 1995 | Total | 127.8 |
| 1996 | Over 1 year | 23.9 |
| 1996 | Total | 115.4 |
| 1997 | Over 1 year | 22.3 |
| 1997 | Total | 122.3 |
| 1998 | Over 1 year | 23.2 |
| 1998 | Total | 137.8 |
| 1999 | Over 1 year | 27.7 |
| 1999 | Total | 143.5 |
| 2000 | Over 1 year | 22.5 |
| 2000 | Total | 124.4 |
| 2001 | Over 1 year | 18.2 |
| 2001 | Total | 109.3 |
| 2002 | Over 1 year | 15.0 |
| 2002 | Total | 106.8 |
| 2003 | Over 1 year | 12.9 |
| 2003 | Total | 103.1 |
| 2004 | Over 1 year | 9.8 |
| 2004 | Total | 91.5 |
| 2005 | Over 1 year | 7.6 |
| 2005 | Total | 82.0 |
| 2006 | Over 1 year | 6.0 |
| 2006 | Total | 84.1 |
| 2007 | Over 1 year | 4.7 |
| 2007 | Total | 84.3 |
| 2008 | Over 1 year | 3.2 |
| 2008 | Total | 82.1 |
| 2009 | Over 1 year | 5.3 |
| 2009 | Total | 109.7 |
| 2010 | Over 1 year | 10.3 |
| 2010 | Total | 144.2 |
| 2011 | Over 1 year | 12.4 |
| 2011 | Total | 140.9 |
| 2012 | Over 1 year | 14.5 |
| 2012 | Total | 144.7 |
| 2013 | Over 1 year | 16.8 |
| 2013 | Total | 145.6 |
| 2014 | Over 1 year | 15.8 |
| 2014 | Total | 134.5 |
| 2015 | Over 1 year | 16.3 |
| 2015 | Total | 135.8 |
| 2016 | Over 1 year | 16.6 |
| 2016 | Total | 133.3 |
| 2017 | Over 1 year | 19.2 |
| 2017 | Total | 133.7 |
| 2018 | Over 1 year | 17.1 |
| 2018 | Total | 124.7 |
| 2019 | Over 1 year | 14.7 |
| 2019 | Total | 115.6 |
| 2020 | Over 1 year | 11.8 |
| 2020 | Total | 116.9 |
| 2021 | Over 1 year | 13.0 |
| 2021 | Total | 134.2 |
| 2022 | Over 1 year | 9.8 |
| 2022 | Total | 94.6 |
| 2023 | Over 1 year | 10.9 |
| 2023 | Total | 102.4 |
| 2024 | Over 1 year | 12.1 |
| 2024 | Total | 130.0 |
| 2025 | Over 1 year | 18.7 |
| 2025 | Total | 154.4 |
| 2026 | Over 1 year | 27.7 |
| 2026 | Total | 164.9 |
Definitions
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.
Working-age population: the usually resident, non-institutionalised, civilian population of New Zealand aged 15 years and over. This is the target population of the survey.
Data calculation/treatment
Due to the unprecedented impact of COVID-19, several seasonally adjusted series were specially treated to maintain a consistent estimate of the seasonal pattern.
For more information
Data provided by
Dataset name
Household Labour Force Survey: Unemployed by Sex by Duration of Unemployment (Annual-Jun) June 2026
Webpage:
https://infoshare.stats.govt.nz/
How to find the data
At URL provided, select 'Work income and spending > Household Labour Force Survey - HLF > Unemployed by Sex by Duration of Unemployment (Annual-Jun)'. All variables were selected to create this dataset.
Import & extraction details
File as imported: Household Labour Force Survey: Unemployed by Sex by Duration of Unemployment (Annual-Jun) June 2026
From the dataset Household Labour Force Survey: Unemployed by Sex by Duration of Unemployment (Annual-Jun) June 2026, this data was extracted:
- Rows: 4-44
- Columns: 2-60
- Provided: 1,230 data points
This data forms the table Labour Force - Duration of unemployment for unemployed people by sex Year ended June 1987–2026.
Dataset originally released on:
August 05, 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.