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Speaker 1: So we got a five year snapshot of Auckland's economic situation.

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Speaker 1: Today the region grew ten percent, which matched the national adverage.

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Speaker 1: I suppose that's goot, one hundred and forty three billion

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Speaker 1: dollars of GDP was generated last year, so that's the

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Speaker 1: fastest in the country. Auckland Unlimited Director of Economic Development

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Speaker 1: Pam Fwards with us on all of this. Pam, very

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Speaker 1: good morning to you morning, Mike. Does this take in

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Speaker 1: last year which was a recession or sort of or

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Speaker 1: not really?

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Speaker 2: Well, a lot of the data is to the March

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Speaker 2: twenty three year, so we're expecting that, you know, what

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Speaker 2: we've seen in the last few months will be quite different.

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Speaker 2: That's why the monitor has quite a lot of narrative

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Speaker 2: that accounts for what's been happening since that time.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so when we talk about ten percent growthe hundred

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Speaker 1: and forty three billion dollars, do we have direct comparisons

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Speaker 1: to other areas of the country as well?

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Speaker 2: Well? We know that we've compared that to the rest

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Speaker 2: of New Zealand, and so overall Auckland was on par

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Speaker 2: which was quite unusual given the extended lockdowns and what

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Speaker 2: we had kind of imagined that Auckland would have done

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Speaker 2: worse than the rest of the country.

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Speaker 1: Does that surprise you in that sense, because the commentary

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Speaker 1: around Auckland is not that positive, is it.

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Speaker 2: No, you're right, it didn't surprise me so much because

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Speaker 2: we know that the Auckland economy is so diversified, and

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Speaker 2: just through our scale, the size of the population, the

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Speaker 2: fact that we rely on high value services, so a

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Speaker 2: lot of technology firms, media information, we were still producing

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Speaker 2: international television production and movies, and people who are selling

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Speaker 2: services as software as a service, all those sorts of

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Speaker 2: things we're still able to trade. So it's a diversification

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Speaker 2: of Auckland's economy that makes it more resilient compared to

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Speaker 2: the rest of the country.

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Speaker 1: What you read overall, because when you say we did

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Speaker 1: better than the rest of the country, it's important to

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Speaker 1: remember what the rest of the country did. So when

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Speaker 1: you say ten percent over five years, that's an average

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Speaker 1: of two percent a year, which is not actually that

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Speaker 1: good of growth, is it.

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Speaker 2: Well, no, not at all, But the rest of the

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Speaker 2: world was suffering as well through that COVID you know,

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Speaker 2: the impact on supply chains and closed borders and like. So, no,

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Speaker 2: it wasn't that great, and we're in a very challenging

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Speaker 2: part of the cycle, as we all know. It was

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Speaker 2: good to hear a bit earlier that there's light at

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Speaker 2: the end of the tunnel.

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Speaker 1: Yes, it was exactly. And so that's my next question

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Speaker 1: that suddenly I've got fascinated in this because the restaurant

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Speaker 1: or the hospow Association have been telling us for years

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Speaker 1: now how miserable it all is. And yet when you

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Speaker 1: look at the actual numbers they've put out, there's growth,

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Speaker 1: and there's five percent growth in the year. And you

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Speaker 1: take that any day of the week, wouldn't you.

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Speaker 2: Well, that's pretty good. And I did hear from them

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Speaker 2: last week that there are pockets of growth in some

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Speaker 2: places are doing well. I guess it's is it natural

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Speaker 2: that we focus on the poor performing areas or some

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Speaker 2: of the dramatic changes. So, you know, I think it

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Speaker 2: is that cycle that we're in and the next twelve

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Speaker 2: eighteen months could be really tough, but opportunities emerge. So

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Speaker 2: I think Auckland and meus you we're in a good place.

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Speaker 2: You know, we still remain attractive for talent and visitors

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Speaker 2: and investors.

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Speaker 1: It's encouraged. You do your positive findings. Positive finding number

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Speaker 1: three was the region's economy grew faster. Is that that

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Speaker 1: how much of immigration is to play there? In other words,

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Speaker 1: people stay where they land.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it has quite a huge implication. So when people

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Speaker 2: stay here and land, they go into companies all businesses,

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Speaker 2: so they're earning salaries and wages. They are needing houses,

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Speaker 2: are needing transport, so immigration plays a huge part.

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Speaker 1: And then positive finding number two the average Aukland that

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Speaker 1: earned early one four hundred dollars. The reality is and

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Speaker 1: that was fourteen point eight percent greater than the average

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Speaker 1: across the rest of the country. But the fact is

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Speaker 1: in a big city, you need to earn the big

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Speaker 1: money because it's expensive to live in the big city.

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Speaker 2: Isn't it well correct? But you also have you know,

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Speaker 2: the bigger companies, you have the higher value services, so

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Speaker 2: they tend to pay higher wages, and certainly you do

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Speaker 2: need that.

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Speaker 1: Would you what would you information tell or say or

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Speaker 1: use by way of phrase around Auckland. It's growing, it's booming,

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Speaker 1: it's productive, it's healthy, it's well.

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Speaker 2: I think it's having a challenging time right now, but

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Speaker 2: I'm incredibly optimistic the population is going to continue to grow.

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Speaker 2: We've got some exciting things coming on with city Raillink

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Speaker 2: opening in twenty twenty six. I was down in one

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Speaker 2: of those stations last weekend, very very exciting things like

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Speaker 2: the International Convention Centers coming on stream end of next year.

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Speaker 2: So look, I think around twenty seven twenty eight, the

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Speaker 2: city will be back on track and doing fantastic good stuff.

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Speaker 1: I'm nice to talk to you, appreciate it very much.

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Speaker 1: Pam Ford, who is excuse me? With Auckland Unlimited, Director

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Speaker 1: of Economic Development. For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast,

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Speaker 1: listen live to news talks that'd be from six am weekdays,

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