Advice just received from the Labour Department's Market Policy Group says that good economic growth is expected to continue for the Taranaki region in 2003.
The Department reports that the Taranaki regional economy performed much better than the national economy in 2002. Latest indicators suggest that economic activity in Taranaki grew by 4.7 percent last year, the third highest growth of New Zealand's regions alongside Nelson-Marlborough. Of the country's 14 regional economies, only Gisborne (5.4 percent) and Southland (4.9 percent) outperformed Taranaki.
Taranaki's strong growth over the past year and a half is the result of higher activity in some of the region's most important sectors. The upturn in the export sector has been a boost to agriculture and related primary processing, as well as to transport and storage services.
Retailers in the region have benefited from the spending of higher farm incomes, and real estate and construction activity seem to have picked up recently. Another important area of growth in the Taranaki economy is the energy sector. Key sectors in the Taranaki regional economy for 2003 remain agriculture (especially dairy), forestry and fishing, health and education, manufacturing (mainly primary processing) and energy.
Confidence indicators such as consumer and business confidence surveys support a positive outlook for the Taranaki economy in 2003. For example, while businesses' confidence about their own activity has fallen, they nonetheless remain more optimistic than the national average and confidence among consumers is solid although below the average for the country.
The Taranaki labour market is expected to remain strong in 2003, with the unemployment rate continuing to fall due to moderate growth in employment. However the report says employment growth is unlikely to match the region's excellent performance throughout the 2002 year. Emloyment growth pulled away from the national average in 2002, the annual unemployment rate for the region was very low and there was an increase in the region's labour force participation rate (the proportion of the working age population that is in the labour force) for the period.
Employment intentions among Taranaki firms (the second highest in the country) are expected to ensure positive job growth during 2003. On the basis of this outlook for the Taranaki labour market over the next 12 months, the number of unemployment beneficiaries is expected to continue falling.
[Picture: According to a recent report the key sectors in the Taranaki regional economy for 2003 remain agriculture (especially dairy), forestry and fishing, health and education, manufacturing and energy.] [Photo: Rob Tucker]
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