New Zealand is slowly moving from the response to the recovery phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. This shift in focus means we’re trying to understand what New Zealand’s recovery path might look like, and where job opportunities might be five years from now. In an earlier article, we looked at industry-level job losses in the short term to March 2021.
Category: Labour market
Employment, unemployment, and labour market issues
Chart of the Month – From airline to online
Over the past three months, much of New Zealand’s workforce (including the Infometrics team) has become far more accustomed to working from home, and to communicating with clients and teammates via Zoom, Teams, and other platforms.
Second wave of unemployment approaches
New Zealand is set to experience a second wave of unemployment as the wage subsidy comes to an end. Businesses have already started to “consult” staff about workforce levels, and with the wage subsidy starting to run out this week, more job losses are in store, especially if that store is The Warehouse or Max.
Upending the labour market
New Zealand has exited the Level 4 lockdown and is now in the Level 3 “waiting room”. Job losses are expected to keep rising as businesses reassess economic conditions and start to downsize. The structural changes New Zealand’s labour market will experience will be significant, as will the need for government support. In this article, we highlight some of the changing trends in the labour market.
What sectors are best equipped to work from home?
New Zealand’s Level 4 lockdown has seen non-essential businesses ordered closed or to work from isolation, causing a rapid shift in how companies across the country operate. Working from home has become the new norm, so this article looks at how many workers in each industry are likely still operating from their home office.
COVID-19 lockdown sees half of Kiwi workers sitting idle at home
Infometrics estimates suggest that only 53% of New Zealand’s workforce can continue to work during the COVID-19 Level 4 lockdown, with almost 1.2m workers sitting idle for the next four weeks.
Crisis Note: Brace for impact – readying for a pandemic and recession
The COVID-19 pandemic is causing economic chaos both internationally and in New Zealand. A recession is now inevitable, and the economic ramifications of the pandemic and response will substantially change people’s livelihoods. However, New Zealand is resilient and stands ready to weather this pandemic, and there are actions that can be taken to reduce the severity of the economic blow.
Provincial employment growth rises faster than urban growth in 2019
Infometrics’ recent Regional Economic Profiles refresh shows that employment in 2019 across provincial New Zealand rose at a faster pace than urban growth for the first time since 2011.
From the beach 2020
Economic growth, inflation, and interest rates around the globe remain significantly lower than they were prior to the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. The limited success of efforts to stimulate the economy over the last 12 years are reminiscent of the Japanese economy’s stagnation during the 1990s. Are other developed economies, including New Zealand, at risk of suffering the same malaise as Japan over the medium-term?
How automation will change our workforce
Around the world, there is increasing interest and concern about the potential effect of technology, specifically automation, on employment. In this article, we consider how technology has affected employment historically, where it’s heading, and use our work for ATEED in Auckland as a case study to highlight the potential future changes.