New Zealand News Briefs
February 2005

April Newsbriefs Complete Edition

Watch your speed

NZ Police issued 1.3 million traffic tickets last year compared with 0.44 million in 1999.

ACT Deputy Leader Dr Muriel Newman noted that violent crime has risen 13.5 percent. She said that the police force is spending too much time collecting revenue for the government and too little time fighting crime.

Air NZ upgrades its fleet

Air New Zealand has announced a new range of classes on its long-haul aircraft.

The airline has established a new "Pacific Premium Economy" Class. Pricing for the new class is expected to be around 25 percent higher than normal economy class.

The new Classes should be available on flights between San Francisco and Auckland by August 2005. They will then be added on Los Angeles and London flights by end of the year.

The Classes

  Business Premier:

    · Lie-flat seats - a 22-inch-wide leather armchair that converts into a 6-foot, 7.5-inch bed
    · an ottoman footrest that doubles as a visitor's seat
    · direct aisle access for all passengers
    · in-seat power
    · a high-resolution 10.4-inch screen to view the on-demand entertainment system.

  Pacific Premium Economy

    · located in the premium cabin,
    · seat pitch set at 39 to 40-inches
    · on-demand entertainment on a personal 8.4-inch high-resolution screen.
    · LED mood cabin lighting
    · in-seat power for electrical devices.

  Pacific Economy:

    · on-demand entertainment with 8.4-inch high-resolution in-seat video screens
    · 34-inch seat pitch.

Economy looks good

The National Bank's survey of NZ business continues to paint a benign picture of the economy.

Activity outlook has improved since last year. A net 31 percent of businesses expect activity in their own firms to increase in the coming year, compared with 26 percent in the final quarter of 2004.

The bank concludes economic activity will continue to grow.

Job ads suffer New Year hangover

Job advertising started the year on a quiet note, according to the latest ANZ Job Ads series.

The number of newspaper ads fell by nine percent in January to 30,040.

The fall in ads probably resulted from New Year's Day this year lying on a Saturday. Advertising in the usually job-laden Saturday issue was therefore much lower than normal.

Fixed term mortgage rates inching higher

A watch on bank mortgage rates by Good Returns shows that rates are inching upwards.

  Kiwibank has increased its one year rate from 7.35 % to 7.50%

  Kiwibank has increased its three, four and five year rates, from 7.6%, to 7.70%.

  National Bank now has all its fixed rates at 7.80%

  Sovereign increased its six month, and one and two years to 7.80%.

  ANZ increased all its fixed rates of one year or more to 7.80%.

ASB Bank economist Anthony Byett said expectations of Reserve Bank rate hikes are increasing and this is feeding through to the fixed rates.

NZ Dollar reaches fresh highs

The New Zealand Dollar continued to perform strongly on currency markets today, reaching new highs against both the US Dollar and the UK Pound. At the NZ dollar's high point today, US$1 bought NZ$1.37 and £1 bought NZ$2.60.

Nurses accept pay deal

Nurses have accepted a new pay deal to be phased in stages by July 2006. Increases are generally around 20 per cent between July 2004 and July 2006.

Stuff reports that new graduates will receive a base pay of $40,000 p.a. or around $46,000 with shift allowances. Five years after graduating, a registered nurse will earn around $62,000 p.a. including shift allowances.

Housing market opens year on cautious note

The housing market began 2005 quietly with prices rising nationally but falling in some areas.

Mr. Howard Morley, President of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (Inc), said the market indicators suggested caution on the part of both buyers and sellers.

   The national median selling price reached a new record of $265,000 in January, compared with the December median of $260,000.

   House sales fell to 7,078 compared with 8,404 in January 2004.

   Seven of the eleven regions showed modest price rises.

   Average days to sell lengthened to 38, compared with 32 in January 2004.

"What we have is evidence of a shortage of listings, coupled with vendors showing a degree of determination on price. January is always one of the quieter months and it will be another month or two before we see a trend for the rest of the year," Mr. Morley said.

Manufacturing expansion steadies

Manufacturing expansion eased during January. Latest figures from ANZ-Business NZ show activity grew less strongly than the previous two months.

A drop in expansion in January is typical. The January 2005 result was higher than in January 2003 or 2004.

The high value of the New Zealand dollar continues to concern manufacturers although some noted that, apart from seasonal activity, conditions for business had changed little over recent months.

Wellington employers confident

The BRC Sherwin Chan & Walshe poll for The Dominion Post surveyed 300 employers from greater Wellington.

   91 percent believed their trading conditions would improve in the next six months.

          Difficulty in attracting staff was one reason for pessimism.

   50 percent said the wages they paid were rising faster than inflation and 21 percent said lower.

   83 percent thought the economy would stay the same or improve.

   23 percent expected fulltime staffing levels to rise and 6 percent expected a fall.

SMC passmark remains at 100

One hundred points are still needed for permanent residence in New Zealand via Skilled Migration.

In this fortnight's draw, 834 Expressions of Interest, representing 1994 people were selected. These applicants will now undergo preliminary checks. Currently 84 percent of those who have undergone the verification process are invited to formally apply for residence in New Zealand.

Top 10 countries of the people selected

Country	Selected EOI's
UK	30%
Philippines	12%
India	11%
China	8%
South Africa	7%
USA	5%
Fiji	5%
Malaysia	2%
Germany	2%
Japan	2%
Total	86%

The 10 countries above provided 86% of the expressions of interest selected in this fortnight's draw.

Jobs for British Miners

The BBC reports that New Zealand state-owned company Solid Energy is trying to recruit 25 skilled miners. Job ads appear in the Yorkshire Post, Northumberland Gazette and Fife Free Press.

Solid Energy representatives will visit the UK in the next few weeks. The company says it has received 150 e-mail responses so far.

NZ Dollar still strong

Financial analysts expect a 0.25% rise in New Zealand's interest rates in the next month or two. The country's economic fundamentals are seen as robust.

For migrants waiting for the best currency deal, financial analysts predict there is no sign of the NZ Dollar weakening in the near term. Today's exchange rates:

Overseas Currency	Buys
£1	NZ$2.63
US $1	NZ$1.40
Euro 1	NZ$1.80
PhP 100	NZ$2.55
ZAR 10	NZ$2.31

Annual house prices fall in Auckland

QV's new monthly property statistics confirm a cooling in some previous hot spots.

Other areas of New Zealand are still experiencing strong growth in prices.

New Zealand residential properties are estimated to have increased in value by 13.5 % over the year to January 2005. For the first time since the current boom began, QV is reporting a decline in two areas.

Nelson City (-3.1%) and Central Auckland City (-1.8%) are both showing annual price falls. Two other one-time hot spots, Tasman (0.8%), and Queenstown Lakes (1.5%) are showing little growth.

The decline in property values in Auckland is for the central city area only. Modest growth was reported in the Eastern (6.3%) and Southern (4.7%) suburbs.

"The trend of the past year is continuing with those areas that peaked first slowing significantly, to the extent that we're even seeing some decline in property value in two areas," says Blue Hancock of QV Valuations. "However, many regions in New Zealand that were late to experience the boom times are still seeing good growth in property values," said Mr Hancock.

"If this trend continues, we expect the areas which were initially slow to follow the cycle upward will begin to also slow down," Mr Hancock said.

NZ unemployment now lowest in OECD

New Zealand's economy added a record 33,000 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2004 according to Statistics New Zealand today.

Unemployment fell from 3.8 percent to 3.6 percent.

NZ's jobless rate is now the lowest for any OECD country.

Around 30 percent of companies surveyed in December by the NZ Institute of Economic Research said they planned to hire staff early in 2005. A similar number reported that difficulties recruiting skilled workers were preventing them expanding.

Unemployment by Ethnic Group

Ethnicity	Unemployment Rate
European	2.3%
Maori	8.9%
Pacific Islander	6.5%
Others	6.5%

More About NZ Unemployment:
By Ethnic Group, Age Group and Regional

Building boom continues

New Zealand's biggest construction company, Fletcher Building, has reported profits up 45 percent on last year.

Chief executive Ralph Waters said the outlook was also positive.

Although the company expected a slowdown in New Zealand's residential market, non-residential building and infrastructure markets remained strong.

Attacked and racially abused

The Press reports claims that migrants working as taxi drivers in Christchurch are being racially abused.

Two male passengers asked Shafiq Raja, a Pakistani, his nationality. At the end of their journey they attacked him and he suffered injuries to his face.

"Every night someone tells me to go back to my own country," Raja said.

John Taylor, president of the New Zealand Taxi Federation, said that some companies outside the federation charged higher rates than people expected, leading to potential disputes.

"The increased price may get passengers' backs up and the fact that the driver might be a migrant can escalate the problem," he said.

Mr Taylor said NZTF companies had stringent English and area knowledge tests. Some migrants could not get work with them and tried other companies.

Shafiq Raja's taxi company, United, is not a member of the New Zealand Taxi Federation.

Wellington loses 200 jobs

ASSA ABLOY New Zealand (formerly Interlock Group) Ltd, announced to staff today the closure of their Miramar plant with the loss of 200 jobs.

All future New Zealand manufacturing and distribution activities will be carried out from the company's North Shore site in Albany.

CEO D'Arcy Quinn said the move was to counter the arrival of directly competing Chinese copies of Interlock's products at prices similar to the cost of Interlock's raw materials.

Green Co-Leader Rod Donald said, "Interlock has gone from Government darling to the dustbin because of unfair competition from sweatshop manufacturers in China."

"While Interlock's decision to close is a result of unfair competition from cheap Chinese imitations and the high exchange rate, rather than the prospect of tariff cuts on imports, it highlights the inevitable loss of thousands of manufacturing jobs in New Zealand if Labour signs a free-trade agreement with China."

SMC passmark remains at 100

One hundred points are still needed for permanent residence in New Zealand via Skilled Migration.

In this fortnight's draw, 771 applications representing 1,841 people were selected. These applicants will now undergo preliminary checks. Currently 84 percent of those who have undergone the verification process are invited to formally apply for residence in New Zealand.

Top 10 countries of the people selected

Country	Selected EOI's
UK	32%
Philippines	13%
India	10%
China	9%
South Africa	5%
USA	4%
South Korea	2%
Fiji	2%
Malaysia	2%
Germany	2%
Total	81%

The 10 countries above provided 81% of the expressions of interest selected in this fortnight's draw.

Wages keep growing - but not by much

Wages continue to grow, according to Statistics New Zealand.

In the year from December 2003 - 2004 wage rates (overtime included) rose 2.5 percent.

Food / beverage / tobacco manufacturing wages rose 2.9 percent.

Teaching professionals' wage rates increased 3.0 percent.

Construction industry wages (including overtime) rose 3.9 percent.

Overall increases for the three broad occupation groups were:

2.3 percent for managers, professionals and technicians
2.2 percent for clerks, service and sales workers
3.0 percent for other occupations.

In the Quarterly Employment Survey, continued economic growth was reflected in the annual growth of filled jobs (up 4.6 percent).

In the December 2004 quarter, average earnings remained relatively unchanged at $20.25 per hour.

Economy still strong?

New Zealand's economy is being affected by a variety of factors.

Economic Growth:
Economists are tipping that New Zealand's economic growth will slow this year from its five-year average of 3.8% to somewhere between 2 and 3 %. These expectations - which could make it harder to find a job in New Zealand - are based on:

          a strong dollar hampering exports,
          a slow down in the housing market
          reduced immigration.

At the moment signals are mixed. Exports and the housing market, both of which were expected to fall, are outperforming expectations.


   The currency:
Although some exporters are complaining about the high dollar, New Zealand's main exports - agricultural and forestry products - are achieving record prices. These high prices (around 15 percent higher than previous peak prices) are offsetting the affect of the high dollar to the extent that exporters in these sectors are not feeling real pain from the Kiwi dollar's strength.


   Immigration Figures:
Owing to the introduction of tougher regulations, immigration figures for the year to December 2004 are down 57 percent on the previous year. New Zealand gained only 15,100 permanent and long-term arrivals in the year to December 2004, compared with 34,900 a year earlier. This is not good for the economy. The Government has countered by reducing the Skilled Migrant passmark to its lowest possible value. Provided a worthwhile proportion of those now being invited to apply for residence in New Zealand do so, immigration figures will increase again in 2005.


   Trade Deficit and Consumer Debt:
In recent years New Zealand has been running a high trade deficit - spending more on imports that it receives for its exports. Like their cousins in other English-speaking countries, New Zealanders have taken on large amounts of personal debt to fund house purchases and consumer spending. Unlike the USA or the UK, however, New Zealand's government is running a surplus and has little debt.


   House Prices:
House prices have defied gloomy predictions. The average house price in New Zealand continues to rise, although there are regional variations. Since 2001, New Zealand's average house price has risen by more than 40%. This quarter's ASB housing confidence survey shows that confidence is returning to the market. In the October 2004 quarter, a net 7 percent thought it was a bad time to buy. Now a net 5 percent believe it's a good time to buy - a swing of 12 percent in sentiment. Banks report that mortgage demand has slackened a little but is still strong.


   Will NZ have a job for me this year?
Crystal ball gazing is difficult at the best of times. At the moment the signs are that New Zealand's economy will continue to bubble along reasonably well and the prospects for migrants finding work in 2005 should remain strong.