The alarming loss of jobs in Hawke's Bay has been confirmed by Statistics New Zealand's linked employer-employee data (LEED) for December 2008 to December 2009. LEED data covered all jobs and earnings from all sources, where tax is paid.
Unlike other data, the information is from actual employer data rather than
surveys and forecasts.
The Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce had sounded warnings about employment erosion for the past two years.
Chamber CEO Murray Douglas said he was deeply alarmed by the trend.
"Sadly this latest LEED dataset indicates that Hawke's Bay had the greatest negative total employment percentage loss from the global downturn of any region in New Zealand," he said.
"Seasonally adjusted actual filled jobs decreased in all regions over the December 2009 year by 2.9 per cent, however for Hawke's Bay our decline was 4.55 per cent or 2970 jobs".
Mr Douglas said the numbers were not a one-off.
"This has been a persistent issue for many years - where we lag New Zealand in good times and have an inferior outcome in bad years.
"When average quarterly earnings seasonally adjusted are considered, Hawke's Bay has the second-lowest earnings in New Zealand, Northland being lower. Wellington and Auckland regions showed the highest earnings by about one third more and substantially ahead of most other regions.
"The chamber and business generally need to lead the approach to address this systemic issue with some co-ordinated and sustained response."
