New Zealand is seeing its rate of unemployment hitting a 10-year high, with figures displaying that 138,000 Kiwis are now jobless. The figures are very high considering that the population of New Zealand is just 4 million.

It should be noted that the rate of unemployment in New Zealand has jumped to six from five percent.

The past year witnessed nearly 48,000 more New Zealanders losing their jobs. As compared to men, more women lost their jobs, which economists put down to a further slow down in the retail sector.

It has been forecast by New Zealand's Treasury that the unemployment rate will hit 8 per cent. However, even worse prediction has been made by the Council of Trade Unions, as it thinks 200,000 New Zealanders would be out of work.