We have recently conducted a survey of local councils across the country to gauge how optimistic they are about the employment outlook for their area. The survey asked people involved with economic development in councils about their perceptions of employment growth prospects in their area over the next one and four years.

Economic growth during 2018 is set to fall short of previous expectations, according to Infometrics’ latest forecasts. Infometrics sees economic growth slowing from 3.0%pa currently to 2.6%pa in early 2019, contrasting with the forecaster’s previous expectation of accelerating growth during 2018. “Labour capacity constraints in the residential construction sector, changes in central government’s infrastructure priorities, and slightly disappointing dairy prices will all weigh on growth this year,” says Infometrics Chief Forecaster Gareth Kiernan.

This Top 10, by Benje Patterson, explores ways of getting into financial health and avoiding debt-traps from spending increases to your home’s ratings valuation.

This month we revisit our article series exploring what makes economists, and those who work in economics, tick. Daniel Sun was born in China and grew up in Auckland and Christchurch. He has a lively interest in New Zealand and Global economics and current affairs. We ask Daniel about how he came to work for Infometrics and what he sees in our technology driven future.