The unemployment rate rose to 5.2 percent in the December 2016 quarter (up from 4.9 percent in the previous quarter) while employment and the labour force continued to grow, Statistics New Zealand said today.

"The December quarter saw a large number of people enter the labour force," labour and income statistics manager Mark Gordon said. "But while the number of people in employment has risen, so has the number of unemployed people ."

This means there were more people available to work, and who had either actively sought work or had a new job to start within the next four weeks.

The labour force participation rate increased 0.4 percentage points over the latest quarter, to reach an all-time high of 70.5 percent.