Extended male labour force in New Zealand
By age group, 2015 Q2 & 2025 Q2, thousands of people
| Quarter | Age group | Thousands of people |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 Q2 | 15-19 | 90.9 |
| 2015 Q2 | 20-24 | 142.8 |
| 2015 Q2 | 25-29 | 143.2 |
| 2015 Q2 | 30-34 | 132.6 |
| 2015 Q2 | 35-39 | 126.3 |
| 2015 Q2 | 40-44 | 140.2 |
| 2015 Q2 | 45-49 | 141.3 |
| 2015 Q2 | 50-54 | 140.7 |
| 2015 Q2 | 55-59 | 121.8 |
| 2015 Q2 | 60-64 | 99.5 |
| 2015 Q2 | 65+ | 87.3 |
| 2025 Q2 | 15-19 | 100.3 |
| 2025 Q2 | 20-24 | 146.1 |
| 2025 Q2 | 25-29 | 163.6 |
| 2025 Q2 | 30-34 | 189.6 |
| 2025 Q2 | 35-39 | 188.6 |
| 2025 Q2 | 40-44 | 168.1 |
| 2025 Q2 | 45-49 | 144.8 |
| 2025 Q2 | 50-54 | 146.9 |
| 2025 Q2 | 55-59 | 137.6 |
| 2025 Q2 | 60-64 | 122.0 |
| 2025 Q2 | 65+ | 130.9 |
Definitions
Employed: people in the working-age population who, during the reference week, did one of the following:
- worked for one hour or more for pay or profit in the context of an employee/employer relationship or self-employment
- worked without pay for one hour or more in work which contributed directly to the operation of a farm, business, or professional practice owned or operated by a relative
- had a job but were not at work due to: own illness or injury, personal or family responsibilities, bad weather or mechanical breakdown, direct involvement in an industrial dispute, or leave or holiday.
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.
Labour force: members of the working-age population, who during the survey reference week, were classified as 'employed' or 'unemployed’.
Potential labour force: people who are not actively seeking but are available and wanting a job, and people who are actively seeking but not currently available for work, but will be available in the next four weeks.
Extended labour force: people in the labour force, or in the potential labour force.
Underemployed: people who are in part-time employment who would like to, and are available to, work more hours.
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.
Underutilised: the sum of those unemployed, underemployed, and in the potential labour force.
Underutilisation rate: the number of underutilised people expressed as a proportion of those in the extended labour force.
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
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: Underutilisation by Sex by Age Group (Quarterly) June 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 > Underutilisation by Sex by Age Group (Qrtly-Mar/Jun/Sep/Dec)'. All variables were selected to create this dataset.
Import & extraction details
File as imported: Household Labour Force Survey: Underutilisation by Sex by Age Group (Quarterly) June 2025
From the dataset Household Labour Force Survey: Underutilisation by Sex by Age Group (Quarterly) June 2025, this data was extracted:
- Rows: 5-90
- Columns: 2-865
- Provided: 35,088 data points
This data forms the table Labour Force - Underutilisation by sex by age group 2004 Q1–2025 Q2.
Dataset originally released on:
August 06, 2025
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.