"Unsurprisingly, Auckland saw the strongest improvement in sales, up 17.2 per cent year on year in November, after 5.5 per cent year on year growth in October," Hudson said.
"As soon as retailers who could observe social distancing opened on November 10, it's been clear that Aucklanders are ready to get out of their homes and back to living their lives.
"It's encouraging to see local small businesses included in this spending, especially as we head into the summer holiday season."
Small business sales up nationwide
Sales growth was recorded across the country in November with Bay of Plenty and Canterbury up by about 18 per cent, and Wellington up by 17.8 per cent, delivering the strongest sales growth across the regions.
The standout sectors for bouncebacks in sales growth were construction, which went up by 21.8 per cent compared with 10.8 per cent in October.
Retail trade was up by 18.1 per cent, compared with 5.6 per cent in October, and manufacturing grew by 17.7 per cent, compared with 6.9 per cent in October.
"Broadly speaking, these figures point towards a recovering small business economy - both regionally and across industries. While there are still areas suffering, it's encouraging to see the dial shifting in the right direction," Hudson said.
"With many hospitality businesses still closed for the majority of the month, November sales were down 5.9 per cent. However, when compared to October and September which was down by 10.2 per cent and 20.4 per cent respectively, the November result is a step in the right direction.
"However, while the rollout of the vaccine passport means many can begin opening in some capacity, we expect ongoing restrictions to still continue to hamper a full recovery."
Job growth solid but slowed
Despite seeing a slowdown during the month, jobs rose 2.4 per cent in November - down from 3.8 per cent growth in October, but are only just below the long term average of 3 per cent.
Auckland saw the softest growth of all regions for the second month in a row, with jobs rising 1.8 per cent after a 2.8 per cent rise in October, followed by Otago, Bay of Plenty and Waikato which all had growth of just over 3 per cent.
In contrast, Wellington went up by 6.2 per cent and Canterbury was up by 4.2 per cent, continuing with record above-average rises.
"One potential explanation for the slight slowdown in jobs growth is that the small business community began preparing for the November reopening by making employment arrangements in October," Hudson said.
Agriculture was down by 2.2 per cent and hospitality was down by 11.5 per cent.
"Looking at industries, only agriculture and hospitality saw job figures worsen; although, this is the third month of weak results for both sectors," Hudson said.
However, wage growth has remained consistent, up 4.3 per cent in November (4.4 per cent in October), with construction up by 5.4 per cent, hospitality 5.2 per cent and manufacturing 4.4 per cent, continuing to see wage growth above the national average.
Small Business Index climbs
The New Zealand Small Business Index, part of Xero Small Business Insights, rose three points in November to 117 points, consolidating the strong rebound of 25 points in October. The Index is now at its highest reading since July 2021, prior to New Zealand heading into the August 2021 lockdown restrictions.
