Hon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Social Development and Employment): As the Deputy Prime Minister has highlighted, last week the household labour force survey was released. It showed the national rate of unemployment to be 3.4 percent, a fall of 0.6 percentage points from the previous quarter. A highlight of the report is the increase in job security felt by New Zealanders, with 45,100 less people saying they are at risk of losing their job in the next 12 months. Alongside this, the increase in the labour force participation rate shows that 71.2 percent of New Zealanders are engaged in the labour market, a 1.1 percentage point increase. This was driven mostly by an increase in the number of women who have found employment. It is clear that the Government's strong economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic is keeping our economy strong and New Zealanders in work.