Employment in New Zealand set to grow

The latest economic forecasts show that the New Zealand economy will continue to grow total employment over the next three years.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s report, Short-term Employment Forecasts: 2017-20, shows that job creation will grow an average of two per cent over the next three years.

“It is encouraging to see that robust job growth is set to continue across the country over the next three years despite global uncertainty. The forecasts show that New Zealand will continue to grow as a highly skilled economy, with growth in the construction and services sectors continuing to support economic growth,” said Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister, Paul Goldsmith.

Job growth rates are forecast to be highest in the South Island, particularly in the Marlborough (3.5 per cent) and Tasman (3.3 per cent) regions over the three-year period.

“The strongest employment growth will be in business services, health and community services and construction over the next three years,” continued Minister Goldsmith. “Around 94,000 or 61 per cent of the job growth will be in highly-skilled occupations, such as managers and professionals. Over the next three years, employment in lower-skilled occupations will increase by 40,000.

“The job growth in highly-skilled occupations (2.9 per cent) is forecast to be greater than the overall rate of growth in employment, which is encouraging to see,” he added.

The unemployment rate is forecast to remain at or below 5 per cent as job growth will continue to increase faster than labour supply over the next three years.

Article published 11th May 2017