Health, employment and recession: the impact of the global crisis on health inequities in New Zealand

New Zealand entered a period of economic recession in early 2008, intensified by the global economic crisis of September 2008. Gross domestic product (GDP) fell consistently during 2008, and that year saw the economy’s worst performance in over a decade (The Treasury, 2010a). Real per capita GDP contracted through 2009 and, despite some market optimism in early 2010, economic indicators remain sluggish. Unemployment rates have risen and remain the highest seen since the last recession in 1997–98. The Treasury recently stated that ‘the current recovery is likely to remain muted relative to past recoveries’ (The Treasury, 2010b).