Third in international 100 mile ultra race
I have just returned from a third-place finish at the Brisbane Trail Ultra 100-mile race on the Spartan Trail World Championships tour.
Yearly Archives: 2023
Migration high, but moderating
Net migration figures released this morning showed that immigration remains high, but has moderated somewhat from its February/March peak. Today's result is likely to further reassure the Reserve Bank that short-term inflation is unlikely to be exacerbated by a sharper spiking from new migrants' demand.
Extraordinary workforce lift over past year
In the past 6 months, New Zealand's working age population increased by an extraordinary 59,100 people. This data highlights that the current migration boom is being fueled by people who are here to work!
Recession ahead of schedule
Three months ago I picked it that NZ was already in a recession - six months ahead of the RBNZ's expectation. It has now been confirmed that, with a slight 0.1% decline in March, New Zealand is in a technical recession at present.
Annualised 7% employment lift
Employment expanded by 0.6% (seasonally adjusted) in April! That is rapid growth for the month - annualised that would equate to more than 7% of additional filled jobs across a 12 month period.
Biking in Dunedin production forests a $16.7m drawcard
There was $16.7 million of spending in Dunedin during 2022 that was attributable to visitors for whom biking in the city's production forests was a key motivation for the visit.
Interview: Mountain biking in production forests
I recently appeared on Radio New Zealand's The Panel to discuss the $291 million spent by bike tourists to New Zealand's production forests in 2022.
Queenstown’s workforce squeeze has eased
There has been a huge lift in youth and female employment over the past year, which has massively eased employment shortages. The challenge moving ahead will be on retention, particularly in an environment where wage increases are unlikely to be as rapid as we have experienced recently due to signs that profit margins are becoming squeezed.
Bike tourism in production plantation forests worth $291 million
At least $291 million was spent by bike tourists who cycled through New Zealand’s production plantation forests in 2022. The top regions for production forest bike tourism are Rotorua, Auckland, Queenstown, Dunedin, and Christchurch, followed by Wanaka, Nelson Tasman, Taranaki, Taupō, and Coromandel.
Budget 2023: Regional Economic Development cheat sheet
I attended Budget 2023 with the sole focus of trying to establish what was in it for regional economic development. As I scanned through the Budget documents, I was immediately concerned that there was no regional economic development media release as there had been in previous budgets.
Fifth place in a world series event
My journey into the world of elite ultrarunning continued recently, with a 5th place finish at the Ultra-Trail Australia (UTA) 100km race (including 4,400m of vertical gain) on the UTMB world series. For me, this result felt a bit like a breakout performance.
Record migration sets scene for Budget 2023 pressure
Net migration into New Zealand has reached a record level for non-New Zealand citizens. Quite the scene-setter for Budget 2023, where the government is trying to tighten the belt, at a time when it also needs to be lifting investment in closing infrastructure deficits and delivering essential services!