The July 2019 Infometrics forecasts show a long, slow, slowdown is on the cards for the New Zealand economy. With lower growth on the way, it’s worth highlighting some of the options that are available to New Zealand to combat the slowdown along with the opportunities and challenges of these options.
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ARTICLES
Economic impacts of events
Events can be a great way to stimulate a local area – bringing a cash injection from out of town visitors, raising the profile of an area and local businesses to visitors and migrants, or simply bringing a community closer together. Many communities choose to support events which align with their strategic goals, but it’s important to assess if the benefits really stack up, and if a public investment is warranted. Infometrics offers an event impact calculator to our regional clients, empowering them to calculate impacts for themselves.
Building smaller and building more
Infometrics’ building forecasts show that consents for new dwellings in New Zealand are expected to crack 35,000 by the end of 2019. This article looks at the size of our new housing, how it’s changed over time, and one potential approach to address the housing shortfall – and meet KiwiBuild targets.
A day in the life of an Economist – Nick Brunsdon
Nick Brunsdon has recently joined the Infometrics Team. This month we sit down to chat with Nick about what he’s working on at Infometrics and what brought him full circle to work in economics.
Chart of the month: Māori education critical to unlocking opportunities
Māori education outcomes continue to lag behind other groups in New Zealand. This lower attainment highlights a need to change what we’re doing to ensure that Māori succeed in education. Increasing Māori education outcomes will not only unlock more opportunities but will also give New Zealand the skills to enable us to prosper. A focus on Māori education outcomes is even more important given the growth in Māori in the working age population over the next 10-20 years.
Media Release: Households could be the next economic domino to fall
Households could go into their shells over the next year as economic conditions worsen, with little to support spending growth in the near-term, according to Infometrics’ latest economic forecasts. The stagnating labour market and the potential for house prices to fall both threaten to drag consumer confidence further below its long-term average.
Tertiary education in decline?
Education Minister Chris Hipkins recently appeared before the Education and Workforce select committee to face a barrage of schooling related questions, but with little focus on tertiary education. However, just before his appearance, tertiary education data for 2018 and updated tertiary education forecasts were released, casting some light on the tertiary sector.
Improving Māori wellbeing
Lifting the skills and opportunities available for Māori has been one of the key priority areas of the government’s Wellbeing Budget. Plenty has been written about the socio-economic, health and other challenges facing Māori over the past couple of decades, yet many of these interrelated issues remain.
Finding workers to build Dunedin’s hospital
Dunedin is finally getting new hospital, much to the relief of locals! Current estimates put the cost of the new hospital at $1.4bn, with construction scheduled to take place over a six-year period from August 2020 to mid-2026. It will be the largest project in the area in living memory and will require different approaches to get the right mix of workers. In this article we draw on our construction sector and local labour market to examine the opportunities and challenges in store for Dunedin.
Recapping a summer of tourism
All popular opinion seemed to be turning against tourism in the summer of 2017/18. Media stories were dominated with, among others, tales of inconsiderate freedom campers and overcrowding at our most popular spots. Heading into the 2018/19 summer, it seemed as if little had changed, except for a smattering of new public toilets. With international tourism data out now, we’ve looked at how the tourism market performed, with some insights into the coming season based on our knowledge of the tourism sector.