Showing posts with label Manufacturing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Manufacturing. Show all posts

More good news, this time on jobs

David Cunliffe wants a positive election campaign, and has ordered his MP's to stop their attacks on their National opposites. Time will tell how well that goes.

But when it comes to positivity, it doesn't get much more positive than news of significant job growth; Scoop Business reports:


7 July 2013
Kiwi job market shows growth from Northland to Southland
All regions across the country recorded growth in the number of jobs advertised on Trade Me Jobs according to an analysis of listings onsite in the April-June quarter.
Head of Trade Me Jobs, Peter Osborne, said the number of job listings nationwide was up 19% on the same period in 2013, continuing the healthy job market trend evident since the September quarter. “Growth in listings has been very strong, despite the potential handbrake effect of the unusual combination of Easter and Anzac Day holidays in March, and a Budget that had a cooling effect on the number of jobs advertised in May.”
Mr Osborne said most advertisers were upbeat. “We’re hearing plenty of optimistic reports from recruiters and employers, and the majority are planning to keep on hiring too.”
He said improved economic and employment opportunities in New Zealand also contributed to the lowest ever level of migration to Australia in May. “Kiwis are increasingly likely to stay in New Zealand which is good news for NZ Inc, and is also complemented by returning expats who have noticed things on the improve back here in New Zealand.”
The national picture
Mr Osborne said the lift in advertised roles in all regions was a “pretty unusual but very welcome” result. Auckland still shines brightly (up 21%), while Canterbury and Wellington maintained their considerable growth trajectories (up 21% and 15% respectively). 

Waikato was another standout performer with job ad growth of 24%, and Otago comfortably reached double digits with a 16% lift.

This is fantastic news, and confirms anecdotal evidence of significant job growth right across the country. Here's the regional breakdown, lifted from the presser:



That there is job growth right across the country, and not just in Canterbury and Auckland as claimed by opposition parties is fantastic for New Zealand. The Government has put a lot of effort into getting people into employment, and as the economy continues to grow at a faster rate than most of our trading partners, significant decreases in the unemployment rate will follow. The Household Labour Force Survey to the end of March showed that more New Zealanders were in work than ever before.

And whilst the construction sector leads the job growth, it's not the sole area of growth. Here are the jobs by category:

 

It's heartening to see a 33% increase in the number of manufacturing jobs being advertised. Twelve of the 22 job categories reported by TradeMe reported double-digit growth from 2013 to 2014. That is suggestive of a very broad-based economic recover.

 And look at the highlighted category. LabourGreenNZFirstMana continues to insist that New Zealand manufacturing is in crisis when in fact the Performance of Manufacturing Index has been in positive territory for eighteen consecutive months, and job growth in almost 34% up over a twelve-month period. Crisis? What crisis?

The New Zealand economy is recovering strongly from the Global Financial Crisis and the associated recession. Bill English has got the books back in surplus four years ahead of what Treasury was forecasting in the 2008 Prefu. Unemployment is falling, and more New Zealanders are in work than ever before.

John Key has a very positive message to take to the electorate. David Cunliffe can promise all things to all people, but the numbers that matter are the ones being generated by the party who holds the purse-strings.

As New Zealanders prepare to go to the polls on 20th September, we are sure that they will indeed "vote positive", although we wonder if that should actually be "vote positively", to be strictly correct.
They will vote for the party which has proven to be a prudent manager of the economy through the toughest economic conditions since the Great Depression. And the "vote positive" sentiment will give John Key and Bill English third terms in their respective roles.

Manufacturing still in crisis. Yeah right.

Remember the "manufactured" manufacturing crisis? Labour, the Greens, Winston First and Mana spend tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars conducting a sham "parliamentary inquiry". The "inquiry" reached a predetermined conclusion.

There's just one slight problem; manufacturing wasn't actually in crisis at all. Manufacturing has now been in positive territory for almost 18 consecutive months. 

And Statistics NZ's latest figures paint an optimistic picture:

Economic Survey of Manufacturing: March 2014 quarter  –  Media Release

The total manufacturing sales volume rose for the third consecutive quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today.
After adjusting for seasonal effects, the volume of total manufacturing sales rose 0.5 percent in the March 2014 quarter, led by rises in chemical and petroleum related industries.
"This quarter's rise occurred despite a relatively flat quarter for meat and dairy product manufacturing," business indicators manager Neil Kelly said.
Meat and dairy product manufacturing was up just 0.1 percent following a large rise in the December 2013 quarter.
"Rises in the chemical and petroleum industries more than offset falls in a number of the other industries," Mr Kelly said.
The sales volume for total manufacturing, excluding meat and dairy, was up 0.7 percent in the March 2014 quarter. While overall sales increased, sales for seven of the 12 manufacturing industries in this group fell.
The main industry movements were:
  • chemical, polymer, and rubber product manufacturing, up 8.5 percent
  • petroleum and coal product manufacturing, up 5.8 percent.
The trend for the total manufacturing sales volume, which gives a longer-term picture of movements, is rising – following a low point in the June 2013 quarter. 
In current prices, the total manufacturing sales value rose 0.6 percent ($155 million).

The significant feature of today's figures is that even though meat and dairy exports were pretty much static, volumes for the March quarter continue to rise. An increase in sales volumes for the quarter of $155 million is very welcome indeed. At the same time, our terms of trade are the most favourable they have been in two generations.

Instead of talking down the manufacturing sector and seeing crises where none exist, the opposition parties should be welcoming today's announcement with an admission that they got it wrong. Manufacturing did dip in the early stages of the Global Financial Crisis, but those manufacturers and exporters who got smart and changed the way the did business are now flourishing as New Zealand leads the world towards economic recovery. 

That is something to be celebrated, not bad-mouthed.
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