In a survey done by Statistics New Zealand's household labor force, the unemployment rate rose to 7.3%. As RBNZ was looking for an unemployment rate of just 6.6 percent and a peak of only 6.7 percent, the prediction is disproportionate i. e., 18,000 more people out of work indicates double the Labour Department's forecast of 9000.

Yet RBNZ finds the data consistent with a recovering economy. Employment shrank by only 0.1% to 2.15 million, indicating the jobs market is stabilizing ASB Bank's chief economist, Nick Tuffley said the variables which go into the unemployment rate calculation, could lead to surprises in the headline unemployment rate, particularly marked among youth, with the unemployment rate for 15 to 24 year olds rising 6.4 percentage points to reach 18.4 percent.

Unemployment rate is likely to rise to 7.5%. The participation rate, which measures the proportion of people in jobs or looking for work, rose slightly to 68.1%