Females in the labour force

IBISWorld anticipates the number of females in the labour force to rise 3.8% in 2025-26, reaching 1.50 million people. Data from Stats NZ shows that the seasonally adjusted female unemployment rate was 5.4% in the September 2025 quarter, slightly down from 5.5% in the previous quarter. This modest improvement is partly driven by growth in service-sector employment and government initiatives supporting workforce participation.

Despite this slight increase, the female labour force participation rate is trending downwards, standing at 66.2% in the September 2025 quarter, down from 66.4% in the previous quarter and 67.0% in the September 2024 quarter. While male participation has also declined, a persistent gender gap in labour force involvement remains, with male participation 8.3% higher than that of females. The female employment rate decreased to 62.7% in the September 2025 quarter, down from 63.6% in September 2024. This decline reflects the broader trend in overall employment, with both male and female rates trending downwards since the second quarter of 2024.

Maori women (Wahine Maori) continue to face structural barriers and experience higher unemployment rates compared with the national average. According to the Ministry of Women (Manatu Wahine), despite having higher qualifications than men, women are often employed in lower-skilled, lower-paid roles, reflecting structural inequalities. Women also face additional barriers, including discrimination, harassment and the disproportionate burden of unpaid caregiving, which limit access to stable employment. In response, the Ministry launched the Gender Pay Gap Toolkit in November 2024 to raise awareness of pay disparities and support organisations to address structural inequalities. The initiative has aimed to encourage more transparent and inclusive hiring and remuneration practices. In November 2025, the Toolkit expanded to include instruments for calculating gender-ethnicity and gender-disability pay gaps, alongside new resources designed to support young women in discussing pay in the workplace.

Over the past five years, several factors have influenced employment opportunities. While GDP grew 1.1% in the September 2025 quarter, sluggish growth and heightened economic uncertainty have encouraged more women to enter the labour force. Growth in the female working-age population has also supported labour force expansion, with an estimated 2.2 million women of working age in December 2025, up 0.3% from the previous quarter and slightly outpacing the 0.2% increase observed in the male working-age population. Women's educational attainment has also risen, with the latest data showing that 44% of women aged 25 to 65 held a bachelor's degree or higher in 2024, up from 40% in 2020. Overall, IBISWorld forecasts the number of females in the labour force to rise by a compound annual rate of 2.3% over the five years through 2025-26.