- Sam Bourgi, Economic Calendar
The New Zealand unemployment rate fell unexpectedly, official figures revealed on Tuesday. In the March quarter, the seasonally adjusted jobless rate dropped to 4.9%, while analysts expected only a minor change from 5.2% to 5.1%. The plunge was mainly associated with the fewer men being unemployed. Namely, the number of jobless males slipped to 4.2%, which is the lowest level since the December 2008 quarter. In the meantime, the employment rate soared 1.2% and also exceeded experts' evaluations, who anticipated only a slight increase from 0.7% to 0.8%. The released report showed that growth in employment outpaced growth in the working-age population for the six-consecutive quarter and, thus, added 0.3% to spike in the employment rate. Another data released on Tuesday revealed that the GDT Price Index in the ninth auction in 2017 climbed 3.6%, following an increase of 3.1% in the previous auction. This data marked the fourth successive gain in a row even though prices remained below the Q4 2016 levels. Nevertheless, many experts believe that in the short-term New Zealand's dairy products exports will increase amid surging demand from China. Overall, it is quite unusual for dairy prices to surge at this time of the year.
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