Otago Southland PSI up 6.5pts
OTAGO and Southland’s services sector has experienced an activity boost in November as the hospitality industry prepares for its peak summer season.
However, staffing issues continue to be a thorn for the sector and ImmigrationNZ is being asked to redefine categories to allow more people to take on work in Otago and Southland.
Otago Southland’s score in the BNZBusinessNZ monthly performance of services index rose from 59.3 in October to 65.8 in November, points above 50 denoting expansion, and below, contraction.
Nationally, the index average eased back from October, falling from 55.4 points to 53.5.
Otago headed up the four regions surveyed with its
65.8 score, followed by northern North Island on
59.9, lower North Island at
58.5 and upper South Island, CanterburyWest
Coast at 52.9.
Otago Southland Employers’ Association chief executive Virginia Nicholls said November’s
65.8 score was more than the average from the past year and was only just below the corresponding time last year.
The regional breakdown of subcategories has orders/new business, activity/sales levels and employment levels all scoring above 60.
Businesses providing services to the construction industry continued to be busy and 59% of comments from survey respondents were positive, she said.
‘‘[However] finding staff with suitable skill levels has reached a critical level in our region,’’ Mrs Nicholls said.
As with recent reports on the southern manufacturing sector, services, too, are finding it difficult to recruit qualified employees.
‘‘There are calls for Immigration NZ to add some new categories for the essential skills work visa in our region, and allowing some of the staff to stay for longer,’’ Mrs Nicholls said.
She also reiterated concerns about how long it was taking to process some of the work visas.
The service sector, which amounts to almost twothirds of the economy, includes suppliers to construction, all facets of hospitality and tourism and financial services providers.
The Queenstown marathon was once again a ‘‘significant event’’ for the hospitality and tourism sectors in Central Otago, Mrs Nicholls said.
‘‘In the hospitality industry at this time of year there is a