Auckland’s job seekers struggle with country’s worst unemployment rate

Friday, 9 May 2025

The national unemployment rate is 5.1%, but in Auckland it’s 6.4%.

Juhi Naaz, a graduate, has unable to find job in Auckland despite hundreds of applications.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says economic recovery is under way, but Labour blames the Government for the high unemployment rate in Auckland.

Juhi Naaz has been looking for a job in Auckland ever since she graduated last September, while Greg Hughes has been out of work since being made redundant by TVNZ in December.

They’re both part of the growing number of people looking for work in the country’s biggest city. It was announced on Wednesday that New Zealand’s unemployment rate remains at 5.1%.

But for Auckland, it was at 6.4%, up from 5.3% the previous quarter and a jump from 4.8% a year ago.

Auckland has the highest unemployment rate in the country, and for Naaz and Hughes, they’re examples of the city’s jobs downturn.

Naaz completed a master’s in applied management at the Eastern Institute of Technology eight months ago and was excited about embarking on a career. However, it hasn’t worked out like that.

“Straight away, I started looking for jobs, but quickly realised things were difficult,” Naaz said.

“I applied for a voluntary job as an eco-intern with Waiheke Resources Trust. I’m coming near to the end of my internship, and I’ve been diligently looking for jobs since February, but have had no success.”

Naaz knew it wouldn’t be easy to find a job, but didn’t expect it to be like this.

“I’ve applied for hundreds of jobs, I have been applying for entry-level jobs, no experience jobs, customer service jobs and data entry jobs,” she said.

“But I’ve had no success, and most of the time, there’s radio silence from employers, I get no response at all.”

The continual knockbacks have been hard to deal with, but Naaz knows she has to keep going.

“Sometimes it feels like I’m wasting my time, even going through the applications, preparing a cover letter and CV.

“I don’t know what else I should do. But after many self-talks, there’s no other way, I have to do this. I’ll apply for more jobs, but it feels worthless.”

Hughes worked as a senior creative director for TVNZ for 16 years. Becoming unemployed close to Christmas, he knew it would take time to find another job, but not this long.

“In mid-January, I started putting time into seriously putting the feelers out, in terms of sending out CVs and looking for jobs on Seek and various other platforms,” Hughes said.

“I also approached recruitment agencies that specialise in the creative field. Although they were pessimistic about the times we were in, they were optimistic that things would come forward for me, but I haven’t heard from any of them. I’ve got four different recruitment agencies looking for work for me.”

Hughes has spent $8000 on equipment to try to pick up freelance work, and he’s also been thinking of doing something completely different.

“I’ve been looking at Uber driving. I haven’t done it, I’m starting to apply for my Passenger Endorsement,” he said.

“A friend of mine suggested I should sell my car, buy a hybrid, and while I haven’t got a whole lot on, just do Uber driving.

“Honestly, I’m happy to do that at this stage. I’ve also been doing labouring, painting, digging holes, water blasting and some gardening, which I’ve enjoyed, especially just on the tail end of summer.

“But those are really little stop gaps to stop the flow of money going out.”

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was in Auckland on Thursday for a pre-Budget speech and was asked by Stuff why Auckland’s unemployment rate was the highest in the country.

“We’ve got an economic recovery under way, it’s a little bit two-speed at the moment,” he said.

“We’re seeing it being launched out of the agricultural sector, through the tourism sector, and particularly in the South Island.

“We are working hard to make sure we get growth back into Auckland and all our metropolitan centres as well, and it is coming.

“But, we have to make sure we run the economy well and deal with the fundamentals of government spending, inflation, interest rates, and growth.

“Also, we have this huge opportunity through the Going for Growth Plan, not just to watch the recovery take place, but shape it so we can step-change our productivity and get those higher-paying jobs we want to see happen here.”

But Labour’s spokesperson for Auckland, Carmel Sepuloni, said the coalition was to blame for the city’s high unemployment.

“The Government are failing Auckland. The unemployment rate is high across the country, but significantly higher in Auckland,” Sepuloni said.

“The economic downturn is having a massive impact on businesses and their ability to retain and hire workers and I’m hearing from my local ones in West Auckland that many of them are being forced to lay off staff.”

Sepuloni said Aucklanders were struggling to keep up with the cost of living.

“They came into the election promising to address the cost-of-living challenges, and things have got worse,” she said.

“Aucklanders are feeling it, as a result, businesses are feeling it, and because of that, people are being laid off.”