The COVID-19 pandemic has had major ramifications for the New Zealand economy and put a spotlight on the structure of local economies. One of the key determinants of how regional economies are performing is how much of a focus they have on either of the tourism or primary sectors. But a bigger issue looms for some areas, with some key industrial players rapidly reassessing their future, which could remove a substantial chunk of activity from some local economies.
Category: Labour market
Employment, unemployment, and labour market issues
Migration, huh! (What is it good for?)
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, migration movements have presented themselves as a puzzling aspect of New Zealand’s economic path forward. Migration has many effects on both the labour market and the wider economy, and will remain a key, but rapidly changing, factor moving ahead, so it’s worth paying attention to.
Employment to be key Election 2020 battleground
With the 2020 Election in September closing in fast, Infometrics has again examined how the economy has performed this electoral term and what that might mean come election day. Yet as New Zealand heads to the polls in just under three months, there needs to be a much greater focus on how to rebuild the economy. Jobs, and how to keep and create them, will be the defining issue of Election 2020.
A chance to supercharge the night-time economy
The night-time economy is generally defined as businesses that do the majority of their trading between 6pm and 6am. In 2019, Infometrics estimates that New Zealand’s core night-time economy was worth almost $10b in economic activity and supported over 180,000 jobs (7% of total employment).
A delayed, but not denied, economic effect
New Zealand’s swift shift towards Alert Level 1 has seen the economy regain momentum more quickly than we had anticipated in the initial stages of the pandemic. Despite a feeling of cautious optimism around the country, we believe those gains will be lost as the economic realities of COVID-19 set in, with New Zealand an isolated lifeboat amid a tempest of global mayhem.
Examining NZ’s slow path to recovery
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.
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.