Employment

Age differences

Young people aged 15 to 24 have lower rates of paid employment than the total population aged 15 to 64. 

Within the youth population, young people aged 15 to 19 are less likely to be employed than those aged 20 to 24.  In 2007, less than half of youth aged 15 to 19 (48.4 percent) were employed, compared to 69.8 percent of young people aged 20 to 24 and 75.4 percent of the total population aged 15 to 64.

Employment rate, by age group, selected years 1986-2007
Age group 1986
(%)		 1991
(%)		 1996
(%)		 2001
(%)		 2006
(%)		 2007
(%)
15-19 years 59.0 44.0 47.4 45.1 47.3 48.4
20-24 years 79.0 66.1 71.3 67.4 71.2 69.8
15-24 years 68.7 55.0 59.5 55.8 58.8 58.7
Total 15-64 years 72.3 65.7 71.1 71.8 75.2 75.4

Source: Statistics New Zealand, Household Labour Force Survey, December year-end average