Thursday 21 November

(Dunedin, 21 November 2019) - Dunedin’s economy continues growing steadily upward, with most aspects comparing favourably with national figures, according to the latest Infometrics Quarterly Economic Monitor report for the year to September 2019.

Dunedin’s GDP grew by 2.7% over this period, a higher rate than the 2.4% growth across New Zealand.

The city’s unemployment rate has consistently fallen, going down from 5.8% in the year ending September 2018 to 4.6% for the year ending September 2019. Over the same period, New Zealand’s average unemployment rate increased to 4.2%.

Dunedin City Council’s Enterprise Dunedin Director, John Christie, says, “It’s heartening to see Dunedin’s falling unemployment rate closing the gap with the national average. Competition for workers remains high all over the country, and we all need to be aware of this as we prepare for many large projects in the city and our region.

“We note that, while we have had a rise in numbers of beneficiaries overall, the Dunedin increase of 0.8% between September 2018 and 2019 periods is below that of all the major urban areas, and the New Zealand average (5.3%).

“It’s the same with the number of 18-24-year-old people receiving Jobseeker Support in Dunedin. The local rise in the year ending September 2019 of 4.5% above its 2018 level, is much less than the national increase of 14% over the same period.”

International visitors to Dunedin spent $233m in the September year, $13m more than the previous year and mostly on hospitality and tours in addition to other tourism products. This rise is largely being credited to an increase in cruise ship passengers in the city for the day because, in the same period, there were fewer people spending the night in commercial accommodation.

Commercial guest nights for visitors to Dunedin in the September year were down 4.6% from the previous year.

Mr Christie says, “This reflects a softening in international visitors to New Zealand. However, our largest market still lies in domestic visitors, and there was a 3.4% rise in guest nights from that sector over the year to September, potentially influenced by the numbers coming to the Fleetwood Mac concert at Forsyth Barr Stadium.”

To view the latest quarterly economic report go to: https://www.dunedinnz.com/business/toolkit-and-resources/research-and-statistics/dunedin-city-economic-monitor

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