Home / Labor participation / New Zealand
New Zealand — Labor participation
Labor Force Participation Rate for New Zealand, 1990–2025.
Latest value · 2025
70.35%
Labor Force Participation Rate · % of population ages 15+ · +10.8% since 1990
Labor participation for New Zealand was 70.35% in 2025, according to the latest World Bank data. The series covers 36 years, from 1990 to 2025. The highest recorded value was 71.50% in 2023. The lowest was 62.87% in 1993 (about 1.1× the low point). Across that span the compound annual growth rate works out to 0.29% per year.
New Zealand ranks 27 of 187 economies on this measure (1 = highest), putting it in the top 14%. The median for East Asia & Pacific is 64.35%, so New Zealand sits above it. It peaked in 2023 and has fallen 2% since. Over the last decade (2015–2025) the figure moved up 3%.
Key figures
Latest (2025)
70.35%
First (1990)
63.49%
Change
+10.8%
Highest
71.50%
in 2023
Lowest
62.87%
in 1993
Average
67.19%
Annual growth (CAGR)
0.29%
Years of data
36
Recent years
| Year | % of population ages 15+ |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 70.35% |
| 2024 | 70.55% |
| 2023 | 71.5% |
| 2022 | 70.93% |
| 2021 | 70.4% |
| 2020 | 69.86% |
| 2019 | 70.17% |
| 2018 | 70.51% |
| 2017 | 70.48% |
| 2016 | 69.55% |
| 2015 | 68.4% |
| 2014 | 68.31% |
Reading this correctly. Proportion of the population aged 15 and above that is economically active: supplying labor for the production of goods and services. Figures are in % of population ages 15+. Comparing this series with a different measure of the same concept (for example a nominal figure against a purchasing-power-parity figure) will give misleading results.
Related data
Source. World Bank Open Data, indicator
SL.TLF.CACT.ZS — Labor Force Participation Rate. Data licensed under CC BY 4.0. Values are reproduced as published; this page computes the summary statistics (change, CAGR, extremes) from the underlying annual series. View the original dataset on data.worldbank.org.