New Zealand's Finance Minister, Grant Robertson: Strong starting position with low unemployment

New Zealand's Finance Minister, Grant Robertson, has commented following the recent jobs data and said, ''while unemployment remains low, there’s still plenty to do. We will continue to invest heavily in training up New Zealanders.''

NZ jobs data

• New Zealand Unemployment Rate Q4: 3.4% (est 3.3%; prev 3.3%).
• Employment Change (QoQ) Q4: 0.2% (est 0.3%; prev 1.3%).
• Employment Change (YoY) Q4: 1.3% (est 1.5%; prev 1.2%).
• Participation Rate Q4: 71.7% (est 71.7%; prev 71.7%).

''We are seeing a significant number of people coming into New Zealand through the Accredited Employer Work Visa and the Working Holiday Visa schemes and we are constantly assessing our immigration settings to help fill vacancies in what is a competitive global market for workers,” Grant Robertson said.

“This year is expected to be a tough year for the global economy and New Zealand won’t be immune to the impacts of that. However, we are in a strong starting position with low unemployment and government debt levels substantially below the countries with which we compare ourselves,'' he added.

“The Government will keep the economy moving in the right direction in this challenging environment and continue to invest in creating a stronger, inclusive and more resilient economy to withstand future shocks,” Grant Robertson said further.

NZD/USD update

NZD/USD dropped following the New Zealand jobs data:

The data is not as strong as the Reserve Bank of New Zealand expected and hence the sell-off in the kiwi.

NZD/USD is on the brink of a move to test lower and 0.6360 is key, but in doing so, an M-formation will be left on the charts which is a reversion pattern.