The New Zealand labour market remained strong during the June 2008 quarter despite an increase in the number of people unemployed, Statistics New Zealand has said. Employment and participation remain at high levels following the growth seen in the labour market since early 2000.

After falling throughout 2007, the New Zealand unemployment rate has increased over the first two quarters of 2008. The unemployment rate increased by 0.2 percentage points to 3.9 percent over the June 2008 quarter. The male unemployment rate increased by 0.4 percentage points to 3.9 percent, while the female unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 4.0 percent.

Despite this, the number of people employed increased by 26,000 (1.2 percent) over the June 2008 quarter and is the second highest level of employment ever recorded by the New Zealand Labour Force Survey. This follows a fall in employment of 1.3 percent over the March 2008 quarter.

There have been some fluctuations in full-time employment recently, with full-time employment increasing by 17,000 (1.0 percent) over the June 2008 quarter. This was driven by an increase in female full-time employment of 15,000, following a decrease in female full-time employment of 23,000 over the March 2008 quarter. Part-time employment increased by 8,000 (1.6 percent) over the June 2008 quarter.

The New Zealand working-age population grew by 0.2 percent over the quarter. This moderate growth coupled with the strong growth in the labour force of 1.5 percent resulted in a labour force participation rate increase of 0.9 percentage points, to 68.6 percent. Both the male and female labour force participation rates increased over the June 2008 quarter, to 75.4 percent and 62.1 percent, respectively.

June 2008 Quarter Housing Data from homepriceguide.com.au is the weakest since 2004. There were widespread falls across Australia’s major capitals:

Sydney
Sydney has experienced the largest price drop in houses since June 2004 dropping by 2.1% in the quarter to June 2008. Sydney apartment values have eased for the second consecutive quarter.

Canberra
A glut of unsold properties in the Canberra market provides choice and bargaining power for buyers.
This is putting downward pressure on prices.

Melbourne
Melbourne’s auction market is now the poorest since 2004. Buyer confidence is waning and house
prices have begun to slide. House prices have eased by 1% in the June 2008 quarter while apartment prices held steady.

Brisbane
The weakness for houses and units in the Brisbane market is now pronounced. Brisbane house values eased by 1.3% in the June 2008 quarter and unit values dropped by 3%.

Adelaide
The Adelaide market has become extremely sluggish. House and unit values have been in a holding
pattern over the June quarter.

Perth
Deflation in Perth house prices now accelerating. House values declined 2.8% over the quarter. Australian Property Monitors holds its outlook for Perth, expecting a fall of 10-15% over the next 12 months.

Median House Prices
June Quarter 2008

exchange rate 1.00 AUS = £0.462

The average Canadian weekly earnings of employees stood at $791.48 in May, up 0.3 percent from April. Compared with a year earlier, average weekly earnings were up 3.1 percent.

In May, earnings among Canada’s largest industrial sectors increased by 6.2 percent in accommodation and food services, 3.0 percent in health and social assistance, 2.8 percent in retail trade, 2.6 percent in manufacturing, and 2.2 percent in educational services, compared with May 2007.

Alberta and Saskatchewan had the strongest year-over-year earnings growth of all provinces at 6.0 percent and 5.4 percent respectively.

Canadian Average Weekly Earnings By Province
May2008

Canadian Average Weekly Earnings By Industry
May 2008

exchange rate used $1.00 CAN = £0.492

The Mallorca property market is the most stable in Spain, and one of the most stable in all of Europe according to the Spanish property experts, Spanish Hot Properties. Mallorca is known for it’s stunning scenery and fantastic beaches and it’s sought after high-end properties. Recent years has seen property in Mallorca gain an exclusive up market reputation and the demand for Mallorca Property has increased exponentially, especially given the Islands limited supply.

As Spanish Hot Properties Managing Director explains “Demand for property in Mallorca continued unabated throughout 2007, and UK buyers were at the top of the list for overseas buyers. If you are thinking of buying property in Mallorca, you would be joining just over 53,000 EU residents (of which 19,000 are British) now living here permanently, together with an estimated 60,000 second home owners from UK. Mallorca’s permanent foreign community of 16.8% is the largest of any province in Spain with significant numbers coming from Germany, France, Italy and South America. The population of Mallorca stands at 791,000, with that of the Balearics in general at just over a million, an increase of 31% in the last ten years”.

2008 and Mallorca property is still out performing the rest of Spain. Mallorca has not suffered from an over-supply of speculative builds, therefore demand, especially for quality apartments, is in balance with or exceeding supply. Coupled with the lack of good plots (particularly in the south west) and restrictions on licences, prices for quality property in sought after locations are still likely to rise 7-10%, depending on area.

Quarterly statistics released by the Spanish Ministry of Housing bear out this trend. Furthermore, although housing starts throughout Spain had fallen generally by 33-35% in the 2nd quarter of 2007 (and by as much as 64% in Andalusia), planning approvals in Mallorca increased.

Front line property will remain an excellent investment, even more so if there is direct sea access, as coastal authorities are tightening up. They are not introducing new laws, simply implementing existing ones. Quality builds and properties in prime locations will continue to be in demand.

The New Zealand Government is introducing a new temporary work policy for overseas workers to protect lower-skilled local workers and encourage the recruitment of high-skilled overseas workers. The new Essential Skills policy will replace the current General work policy from 28 July 2008, and will see applications for work permits in lower-skilled and higher-skilled occupations treated differently.

The Essential Skills work policy is replacing the General work policy on 28 July 2008. One of the key changes in the new policy is that Essential Skills will differentiate between occupations on the basis of their skill level.

Many of the principles of General work policy have been carried over to the Essential Skills policy, most importantly:

• the requirement that there must be no New Zealand workers available before an employer is allowed to recruit an overseas worker; and
• the requirement that the terms and conditions of the employment, including the pay, meet those of the New Zealand market.

Where an occupation is included in the Long Term Skill Shortage List or the Immediate Skill Shortage List, Immigration New Zealand will accept there is a shortage of New Zealand workers. In all other cases, employers must demonstrate they have made genuine attempts to recruit a New Zealander.

Skill level is primarily determined by the occupation’s placement on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO), an independent list of occupations compiled by Statistics New Zealand and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Skill level one occupations are the highest skilled and skill level five occupations are the lowest skilled.

There are two provisions under Essential Skills work policy which relate to specific skill levels, one for highly skilled workers and one for lower skilled workers.

Highly Skilled
Overseas workers applying for a visa or permit on the basis of an offer of employment for a skill level one occupation can now apply for a five year permit, provided their base salary will be above $55,000. Each person can only obtain one five year permit (but can apply for further permits to extend their stay, with those further permits granted for a maximum of three years each, providing that the need for the worker still exists).

Lower Skilled
Immigration New Zealand will now seek advice from Work and Income with every application for a visa or permit for lower skilled workers (ANZSCO skill levels four and five) to find if there are unemployed New Zealanders available to take up the work. The only exception to this is where Work and Income has already informed INZ of a regional labour shortage for a particular occupation or industry.