Wellington Region Performs Well In High Growth Sectors

Tuesday 14 February

An Annual Economic Profile report commissioned by Grow Wellington shows GDP for the Wellington region grew 0.8% for the year to March 2011. Against the New Zealand average however, the Infometrics report indicates our GDP growth hasn’t been as strong as the national growth of 1.6%. This gap can largely be attributed to reduction in the government sector which in turn saw a decline in the business services sector.

In contrast the regions priority sectors of manufacturing, education, food and beverage, screen and digital, information technology and clean technology have all grown above the national average. Two of these sectors well out performed the New Zealand average. The food and beverage sector grew at almost double the national rate (growth of 4.2% compared with national growth of 2.1%) and screen and digital output grew by 2.2% compared with national growth of 1.2%.

When compared with Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Manawatu-Wanganui and Canterbury for the five years from 2006 – 2011, the region performed positively, ranking first position in economic growth and second in employment growth.

Wellington outperforms all regions on GDP per employee, showing significantly higher output per employee - at $78,719 compared with a weighted average of $64,898. This has a positive impact on sustainable growth in real wages and standard of living.

Wellington is firmly establishing itself as the smart capital, having the most knowledge intensive industries in the country. Around 47% of the regions workforce is employed in knowledge intensive occupations compared to a national average of just over 32%.

“While it is encouraging to see growth in GDP and that the region is performing favourably against other regions and nationally, the Infometrics report confirms that sectors outside government are comparatively small for the region. With further government cutbacks yet to take place we need to ensure we are focused on growing the regions high value sectors” says Grow Wellington’s CE, Nigel Kirkpatrick.

ENDS

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