Wellington Tops Regional Employment Growth

Wellington Tops Regional Employment Growth

The Wellington region has contributed to much of the better than expected employment figures released today by Statistics New Zealand.

The Household Labour Force Survey recorded employment growth for New Zealand of 1% in the year to September, 20,800 new jobs were created. 18,200 of these were in Wellington according to the survey, a 6.9% increase in employment for the region. There is regional variation, however, with Auckland's employment shrinking 3.1% over the period.

Wellington's working-age population and labour force both grew significantly meaning Wellington's unemloyment rate increased from 3.2% to 3.6% but this was less than the country as a whole.

The figures follow on from data released earlier this week showing that Wellington's wages increased more than the rest of the country over the year to September.

"These figures reinforce anecdotal evidence from businesses that Wellington's labour force has been tight over the last year," said Chamber CEO Charles Finny.

"The job growth puts us in a relatively good position to weather the expected storm as the economy slows.

"We expect there will be increased turnover over the coming months with some sectors losing jobs while other sectors, where skill shortages remain, picking these people up to a certain extent", Mr Finny concluded.

ENDS

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