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MANY business people are convinced that things are not as bad in New Zealand as some surveys suggest and there was good news last month when the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in 12 years.
The unemployment rate dropped to 5.9 per cent and job figures for the September quarter were better than expected.
They reflected 22,000 more people employed, an increase of 1.2 per cent, with 92 per cent of the new jobs full time.
The latest employment data shows jobs are spread across most sectors of the economy apart from construction, which is slowing after a jobs spurt a year ago, and manufacturing, where employment is steady.
Auckland's unemployment rate dropped from 5.8 per cent in June to 5.1 per cent, and the Bay of Plenty's from 8.6 to 8.1 per cent. But the Waikato's went up, from 5.6 to 6 per cent.
Northland still had the highest unemployment rate, 8.7 per cent.
It's participation rate, which is the proportion of the working age population either employed or actively looking for work, was also one of the worst at 60.3 per cent.
Other good news is that the number of job advertisements have been slowly rising for the past five months.
National Bank chief economist Brendan O'Donovan thinks some of the increase in employment is catch-up from the first half of the year, when employers held back from hiring until they saw the detail of the Employment Relations Act.
"It fits in with our general view that there is growth, but business is grumpy because it is not particularly profitable growth.
"Profits are being squeezed by higher costs."
John Pask, policy manager at the Employers Federation, said the figures were encouraging.
"But we need to see if the trend is sustained for another quarter or two before dancing in the street."
Council of Trade Unions economist Peter Conway said: "The figures show there is more confidence in the employer community that is perhaps revealed in some confidence surveys."