Economists have sought to build a more timely indicator of labour market activity in New Zealand using a technique known as “Midas”, or mixed-data sampling, to support central bank policy-making.

As in many jurisdictions, labour data is published infrequently and with a lag in New Zealand. Key indicators are published quarterly, with a lag of around a month. At the same time, central bankers must set policy in real time, note authors Özer Karagedikli and Murat Özbilgin.

In their paper, the