Articles

Economic data doesn’t usually feature on the Christmas wish list, but it does have a habit of showing up at the checkout. For many households, the festive season is as much about budgets as it is about BBQs, pavlovas, and full fridges for visiting family.

Chief Forecaster Gareth Kiernan has penned Infometrics’ traditional Christmas Carol. Sung to the tune of Frank Sinatra's Christmas song “Let it Snow”.

The pace of supplier cost increases to Foodstuffs supermarkets slowed slightly last month, with the Infometrics-Foodstuffs New Zealand Grocery Supplier Cost Index (GSCI) showing an average 2.4% increase in what suppliers charged in November 2025, compared to a year earlier.

After a tough couple of years, there are early signs that the downturn in construction employment might be moderating.

Conditions in the labour market have deteriorated over the past 18-24 months, as the unemployment rate has risen from 4.0% in December 2023 to 5.1% just a year later. The unemployment rate has continued to rise in 2025, reaching 5.3% in the September quarter, up from 5.2% in June.

When we publish the 2025 REPs and SPs early in 2026, we will make larger than usual revisions due to a raft of changes to our methodologies. This article describes the changes we are making and what they will mean for you.

The effect of AI on the labour market and broader economy is highly uncertain, but research is beginning to emerge that looks at the exposure of tasks within occupations to generative AI automation or augmentation.

Resilience continues to be an important long-term factor for the New Zealand economy, and our Chart of the Month highlights the continued emergency challenges we face over time.

Infometrics was proud to sponsor the recent Economic Development New Zealand (EDNZ) 2025 Annual Conference, with a focus on “Local Strength, Global Reach”. As part of the conference, we shared an economic update and some analysis of key trends that the Infometrics team has noticed emerging as influential focus areas for economic development over the last year.