The labour force participation rate is a measure of the adult population’s engagement in the labour market. Here we look at how the participation rate of young men has changed since the 1950's. Read

Domestic student university enrolments are reportedly down 3,000 this year compared with last year. Here, we examine why university enrolments might have fallen and whether they are likely to recover. Read

Understanding economic diversity in an economy is about analysing the diversity of ways that an economy creates economic output. A common way to do this is to look at the relative size of the industries that make up an economy. Here, we outline a framework for doing so. Read

The tightness of the labour market in recent years has seen higher levels of reported poaching of talent, as businesses competed for workers. Anecdotally, we have been hearing from employers that worker headhunting and poaching are becoming less commonplace. But does the data support this? Read

Productivity is important. Understanding your region’s productivity is a key part of understanding your region’s economic development. Here we outline a framework for doing so. Read

The economics of video streaming services don’t seem to be adding up for anyone at the moment. In the US, screen writers are on strike asking for better pay. The longer the strike goes on, the greater will be the hiatus in original programming, which will reduce industry revenues. All this at a time when investors in video streaming services are looking for greater returns, which is prompting streaming services to cut costs by firing staff and deleting content. Read

Amongst all the media chatter that followed the National Party’s promise to open a New Medical School at Waikato University, and add more medical training places at the Auckland and Dunedin medical schools, Harriet Wild’s comment that more medical students Read

Younger New Zealanders are, broadly speaking, more highly qualified than those in older age groups. Why is this, and does it matter? Read

New Zealand is expected to experience an economic recession this year. The technical definition of a recession is when GDP declines for two successive quarters. With GDP having fallen 0.6% in the December 2022 quarter, we might already be in recession. How well positioned are Kiwi households to navi... Read

The Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) is starting to give us deeper insights into the supply of skills in the New Zealand labour market. Here we look at the origin of new entrants into industry workforces. Read