A good dollop of pre-Christmas cheer has emerged within some
segments of the local services sector, Otago-Southland
Employers Association chief executive John Scandrett says.
Like the temperatures yesterday, the revenue generated by
Dunedin businesses did not climb much above zero - leaving
the city's services, manufacturing and retail sectors with an
estimated $8 million loss.
Activity in the Otago-Southland service industry has
disappointed employers representative John Scandrett, who was
expecting a robust lift in activity levels.
The service sector nationally contracted slightly during
January, and just remained in expansion mode for the start of
2011 - but Otago Southland fared poorly.
The Otago-Southland services sector continues to make its
slow recovery from the June lows, gaining another 1.2 points
in activity last month as measured by the BNZ-Business NZ
performance in services index.
Wild weather during May helped dampen service sector activity
in the month, even though the sector experienced its seventh
consecutive month of expansion.
Just because anybody can work in the hospitality industry
doesn't mean they should, says Rosebank Lodge restaurant and
function supervisor Monique Rutene (21), of Balclutha.
Activity in the Otago-Southland services industries took a
hit in April, falling after two months of expansion, the
latest Performance in Services Index shows.
