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Monthly Reporting
We will be publishing the full February monthly benefit report this Friday 20 March. However, this will not include comparisons with January 2026, or December 2025 data.
Unfortunately, because of system issues we have not yet been able to publish the full December and January monthly and December quarterly data and benefit factsheets. We apologise for the delay. We will provide an update on timing as soon as it is available.
Below are the high-level numbers as at the end of December 2025 as well as end of January 2026, including number of people on working age benefits, Jobseeker Support, Jobseeker Support – Work Ready and Jobseeker Support – Health Condition or Disability. These high-level numbers have not been affected by the system issues we are currently experiencing.
The high-level data as at the end of January 2026 is:
- There were 424,155 people (or 13.1% of the working-age population) on a main benefit.
- There were 220,839 people (or 6.8% of the working-age population) on a Jobseeker Support (JS) benefit. This includes 124,803 people on Jobseeker – Work Ready and 96,039 people on Jobseeker – Health Condition or Disability.
- There were 7,236 people on a Jobseeker Support – Student Hardship benefit.
- There were 6,903 people who exited a main benefit into work in the month ending January 2026.
- There were 5,796 people who exited JS into work in the month ending January 2026.
The high-level data as at the end of December 2025 is:
- There were 427,236 people (or 13.2% of the working-age population) on a main benefit.
- There were 223,512 people (or 6.9% of the working-age population) on a Jobseeker Support (JS) benefit.
This includes 124,875 people on Jobseeker – Work Ready and 98,637 people on Jobseeker – Health Condition or Disability. - There were 7,104 people on a Jobseeker Support – Student Hardship benefit.
- There were 19,893 people who exited a main benefit into work in the quarter ending December 2025.
- There were 17,757 people who exited JS into work in the quarter ending December 2025
An overview of benefit and supplementary assistance data.
Latest Monthly Benefits Update release
Monthly Benefits Update - Data file
Release timetable
We will provide an update on timing as soon as it is available.
How we report ethnicity
From December 2021, we introduced a new reporting approach called ‘total response’. Making this change means that we recognise all aspects of someone’s ethnicity and allows us to represent the full diversity of communities, whānau, and people in Aotearoa. This reflects our clients more accurately, aligns our approach with Statistics NZ’s reporting, and reflects best practice.
Ethnicity is about people’s identity and sense of belonging. Ethnicity measures cultural affiliation, rather than race, ancestry, nationality, or citizenship. Ethnicity is self-perceived and people can identify with more than one ethnic group. Previously, we reported ethnicity using an approach called ‘prioritised ethnicity’. Prioritised ethnicity meant that we allocated people to a single ethnic group in an order of priority. The priority previously used by MSD was Māori, Pacific Peoples, Other, and NZ European.
Confidentiality - Random Rounding
From 12 February 2021, MSD started applying a range of new confidentiality procedures to public data releases. These procedures will continue to protect client information while making more data available. To find out how we have changed the way we work with client information, please visit: