We are past the shortest day, but summer still seems very far away and it’s natural to start thinking about warmer climates and palm trees…
But even though moving to a warmer climate may be tempting, Mieke Welvaert points out that one of our biggest sources of migrants are Kiwis returning home.
The kiwi lifestyle is alluring, and businesses are beginning to adapt. Jacqui Clarke investigates the growing trend to work remotely and how Infometrics is adopting this practice.
We take a break from workforce related issues in Mieke’s article on quantifying the effects of the closure of the Manawatu Gorge.
The newsletter also highlight our sponsorship of the Got a Trade? Got it Made! campaign, before concluding with a look at a day in the life of Infometrics economist, Hilary Parker.
A wee while back, Winston Peters complained that arrival data used by Herald reporters mistook arrivals from Australia as Australians (spoiler – it didn’t). But he did raise an interesting question: who does come over from Australia when they move here long-term? Turns out, almost two thirds of people moving from Australia to New Zealand are in fact Kiwis.
At the 2014 Global Leadership Summit, a third of the executives, entrepreneurs and business academics gathered in London predicted that more than 50% their company’s full-time workforce would be working remotely by 2020. That’s only 3 years away.
Not only does Infometrics believe that this signals a significant change in the way New Zealand’s future workforce may potentially be structured, but we have embraced this trend wholeheartedly ourselves!
Infometrics is proud to once again sponsor the Got a Trade? Got it Made! campaign. Got a Trade? Got it Made! focuses on raising awareness of training and career opportunities in New Zealand’s trades and services. The campaign culminates in a dedicated awareness week on 21-27 August that will speak to young people, key influencers, including parents, teachers and careers advisors.
The Manawatū Gorge remains closed following further slips on the route during May. In this article, we take a look at the effect this closure has had on traffic flows and examine the costs of the alternative routes. Spending on state highways over the next four years is expected to be around $9.2bn, but a surprising amount of transport funding has also been allocated to the rail networks. Lastly, we touch on the latest electronic card data, which suggests that the growth in spending on vehicles remains strong, but spending on other freighted retail items is more subdued.
Hilary Parker is one of our youngest economists and she’s full of surprises. She recently undertook a physically challenging Outward Bound experience, which she admits was completely outside of her comfort zone. It is difficult to imagine the softly-spoken Hilary spending days alone in the bush, but she did it! We chat with Hilary about what a day in the life of an economist looks like…
