Hawke's Bay job loss biggest in country

New figures show more than 2000 jobs were lost in Hawke's Bay over a 12-month period - the worst performance of any region in New Zealand.
The release from Statistics New Zealand also confirmed the region continued to lag behind the rest of the country in pay rates.
It has given the Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce a new sense of urgency to set up its regional economic development agency, Business Hawke's Bay.
Chief executive Murray Douglas said the data demanded action.
"This is a persistent issue over many years where we lag New Zealand in good times and have an inferior outcome in bad years," he said.
"Sadly this latest dataset indicates that Hawke's Bay had the greatest negative total employment percentage loss from the global downturn of any region in New Zealand for the last quarter in 2009 and first quarter in 2010.
"The chamber for some period has been warning from survey data that we have lost significant jobs in the last two years and it is again confirmed."
Mr Douglas said jobs were lost in all regions over the survey period, but Hawke's Bay had the greatest percentage decrease, down 3.2 per cent, or a loss of 2210 jobs.
The region moved from being second-lowest in the previous quarter to lowest, with Wellington and Auckland showing the highest earnings.
"This makes the work of Business Hawke's Bay even more urgent to address this systemic issue with its co-ordinated and sustained response," Mr Douglas said.
Business Hawke's Bay will operate independent of the chamber and focus on research, planning and facilitation of economic targets.
The Hawke's Bay Regional Council stalled last week on a recommendation to grant $50,000 to help set up the agency.
The council had its own regional economic agency, formed after the dissolution of Venture Hawke's Bay.
Mr Douglas said Business Hawke's Bay would still be launched in early July.
"We are well down the highway and are currently sorting out the board members," he said.
The board would be appointed from unpaid local business people.
Attracting new businesses to the Bay has been mooted as a quick way of diversifying the region's economic base and stimulating the local economy.
The chamber was currently canvassing businesses in support of Business Hawke's Bay. "Obviously we need money but we also need businesses to provide services as well," Mr Douglas said.
He said Hawke's Bay needed to control its own future, with current growth insufficient to secure a strong and diverse economy.