Jobseeker Support - December 2019 quarter
During the COVID-19 pandemic response, we are releasing a reduced amount of supporting material for the Benefit Fact Sheets and this page has not been updated with information from the latest quarter.
Jobseeker Support (JS) is for people who are looking for work or are preparing to look for work. This is also available to people who can only work part-time, or to people who are temporarily unable to look for work due to a health condition, an injury or a disability.
Five-year trend
There were 147,464 working-age people in receipt of Jobseeker Support as at the end of December 2019, an increase of 18.3 percent when compared with December 2014.
By the end of December 2019, there were 83,103 working-age clients who received Jobseeker Support – Work Ready (JS – WR) while actively looking for work, or in training to find work. During the same period, there were 64,361 working-age clients with a health condition, an injury or a disability who received Jobseeker Support – Health Condition and Disability (JS – HCD).
Figure 2 shows the number of JS recipients by benefit sub-group over the last six December quarters.
As at the end of December 2019, 4.9 percent of the working-age population received Jobseeker Support, or a slight increase of 0.4 percentage points when compared with 2014 and 2018.
Annual comparison
The number of working-age people in receipt of Jobseeker Support increased by 13,416 (up 10.0 percent) when compared to December 2018. The increase was mostly driven by a 12.1 percent increase in the Jobseeker Support – Work Ready category.
|
December 2018 |
December 2019 |
Annual change |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Number of Jobseeker Support recipients |
134,048 | 147,464 | 10.0 percent increase |
|
Number of Jobseeker Support – Work Ready recipients |
74,107 | 83,103 | 12.1 percent increase |
|
Number of Jobseeker Support – Health Condition and Disability recipients |
59,941 | 64,361 | 7.4 percent increase |
|
Percentage of working-age population receiving Jobseeker Support |
4.5% | 4.9% | 0.4 percentage point increase |
|
Percentage of working-age main benefit population receiving Jobseeker Support |
44.8% | 46.9% | 2.1 percentage point increase |
Note 1: Working-age people are aged 18 to 64 years. This definition reflects the minimum age of eligibility for most main benefits and the age of qualification for New Zealand Superannuation.
Note 2: Percentage of working-age population is based on Statistics New Zealand’s national population estimate year ended June for relevant years (i.e. the population estimates as at June 2019 have been used for this quarter’s report).
Note 3: Percentage of the working-age population and percentage of the working-age benefit population are shown as rounded figures, while the change between them is calculated from the exact values. The difference given may not correspond exactly with the difference between the percentages shown.
