The services industry is a key component of New Zealand’s economy, employing about 400,000 people or 18% of all workers in New Zealand. It relies heavily on young people with 30% of workers aged 15-24. Many of these young people work part time, often to fit work around other commitments like school or tertiary study. Some of these young workers stay on in the sector to become experts in their field, like world renowned chef Josh Emett while others stay for a short period of time, like I did, and learn valuable transferable people skills that can be used in other aspects of their working lives.

Bill English’s eighth Budget was a pretty boring event for policy and economic buffs out there, with an expanding economy ensuring growth in the overall tax take outstrips the lift in spending. National has long since set its ship on course, so the Budget was very much just a little tinkering around the edges. That being said, we did highlight a few issues we see specifically affecting our clients across the construction, transport, and education sectors, as well as in the regions.

Soaring international visitor arrival numbers have thrown the spotlight on New Zealand’s tourism sector, with concerns expressed about whether we have the infrastructure to cope with the massive lift in arrivals that has occurred over the last three years.  John Key has pledged $12m to provide better facilities, such as public toilets, to areas with small populations but a big tourism presence.  The government has also established “Project Palace” to try and attract investment for the construction of new hotels, with the availability of accommodation becoming a significant constraint in many parts of the country.

We were proud sponsors of the recent Victoria Business School Excellence Awards, where our Chief Economist, Adolf Stroombergen (pictured middle), presented Infometrics Economics Awards.  This year’s winners were Saif Fawzi (left) and Jamie Hatch (right).  We further celebrated these students’ success with a morning tea, where Benje Patterson took a moment to interview Jamie about what attracted him to economics and why it is important for us all to have a working knowledge of economics.