sydneynew zealands job market remained tight in the third quarter with the unemployment rate remaining near record lows the jobless rate stood at 33 in the third quarter unchanged from the second quarter while labor underutilization eased slightly stats nz said wednesday the underutilization rate a broader measure of spare labor capacity dipped slightly to 90 from 92 last quarter the labor force participation rate rose to 717 and the employment rate rose to 693 both are the highest rates recorded since the job market survey began in 1986 stats nz added despite rapidly rising interest rates falling house prices and talk of a coming global recession feelings of job security rose over the third quarter with 528 of employed people saying there was almost no chance they would involuntarily lose their job or business in the next 12 months compared with 456 in the same quarter last year over the year there were 46100 more permanent employees and 12400 fewer fixedterm employees the data showed the sense of job security also came with indications that wages are rising over the year to the third quarter the labor cost index increased 37 compared with 34 in the prior quarter