More than 800 jobs were added in 2022, a rise of about 1.4%.
Dunedin had already got past its pre-Covid-19 employment peak about March last year.
The rate of employment growth appears to have slowed a little since.
Data shows public administration, professional, scientific and technical services played a key role in jobs’ growth up until December last year, Dunedin city councillors have been told.
Employment in accommodation and food services has slowly begun to rebuild after lows resulting from Covid-19 fallout.
However, purchasing power has diminished, because of inflation.
The council’s economic development committee, which is meeting tomorrow, has been presented with some updated material since Infometrics’ annual economic profile to March 2022 was released.
Ministry for Social Development data indicates the number of people in Dunedin receiving a Jobseeker Support benefit in December dropped by 17% on a year earlier.
In their report for the committee, council staff highlighted the number had fallen from 4392 to 3654.
The figure of 800 jobs being added last year came from Statistics New Zealand, based on payroll filings.
The council had wanted to lift incomes by $10,000 per person during a 10-year economic development strategy applying to 2013-23.
It was trending to get somewhere near the target until 2021, and then inflation hurt average income in real terms.
Inflation was 6.9% in the year to March 2022, which was greater than wage growth.
The Infometrics snapshot in March 2022 showed Dunedin’s gross domestic product grew by 5.7% in the previous 12 months to almost $7.5 billion.
The national growth rate sat at 5.3%.
Professional, scientific and technical services made the largest contribution to overall growth in Dunedin between 2021 and 2022, the Infometrics report said.
The industry grew by 16.6% in the year to March 2022.
Industries in which Dunedin was identified as having a comparative advantage included education and training, printing and supply of electricity and gas.
The largest detractor to Dunedin’s growth in the year to March 2022 was information media and telecommunications.
Real estate services, rental and hiring also dipped.
The annual average employment growth in Dunedin between 2001 and 2022 was broadly in line with the national average.
The healthcare and social assistance sector in Dunedin employs more than 10,000, or about 15.7% of the city’s workforce.
This is comfortably above the national proportion of 10.4%.
The proportion of Dunedin’s workforce involved in education and training is about 13.8%, which is significantly higher than the national average of 7.6%.
