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Highly skilled jobs grow in NZ

jobs in auckland

About jobs in New Zealand, there’s some good news. While the unemployment rate continues to remain high, those employed are working in highly-skilled jobs. There are more highly-skilled jobs and fewer lower-skills jobs than three years ago.

More New Zealand employees are working in highly skilled jobs than in any other type of work, according to Statistics New Zealand.

The Household Labour Force Survey information shows that over one-third of staff in the December 2012 quarter were in jobs categorised into the top of five skill groupings. That compares to one in six people in the lowest skilled grouping.

highly skilled jobs in Auckland

Skill composition also differs by ethnic group. Almost half of European and Asian people work in highly skilled (managerial and professional) jobs, while over half of Māori and Pacific peoples work low skilled jobs.

Even young workers are in good jobs. The jobs done by employed teenagers moved from lower skilled to highly skilled as they become young adults.

The number of people in highly skilled jobs increased by 60,000 since 2009, mainly due to growth in the number of jobs in the health, professional, and agricultural industries.

The number of people working in highly skilled jobs differs by age and ethnicity, but that men and women work equally in both the most highly skilled jobs.

Economic News also explores New Zealand’s direct investment relationship with Australia, and the effects that the global financial crisis had on whether companies chose to reinvest their profits, or return them to their overseas parent companies as dividends.

The report looks at how company behaviour differs between the banking and corporate sectors, and how this has changed over time.

Australian-owned banks, for example, reinvested most of their profits back in to New Zealand during 2011 and 2012, while corporates returned most of their profits to their parent companies in Australia as dividends.

New Zealand earns less from its investments abroad than the rest of the world earns from its investment in New Zealand. Much of this investment income is attributable to Australia, as it is New Zealand’s largest investment partner for both inward and outward investment.

Stocks of Australian investment made up 56% of total foreign direct investment (FDI) stocks in New Zealand as at 31 March 2012.

One concerning fact emerged about Australian companies operating in New Zealand. In the years ended March 2009, 2011 and 2012, more dividends were paid out to shareholders than the actual profits generated. This means that Australian corporates didn’t reinvest any profits in New Zealand for those years.

Read: Skill levels of New Zealand jobs

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