Benefit numbers up again

an innovation precinct where the little guys can can flourish’’.

Out of this came the Innovation Precinct (now known as the Salt district). Their first project was the Epic Centre, an eco-friendly building that went up blindingly fast and quickly housed 20 hitech Christchurch early stage companies and around 250 workers.

I’ve worked with many of the companies that kicked off life in the Epic Centre and can confirm it’s been a rich source of value for the region; and a handy use source of export dollars. And what made it work was the combination of top down and bottom up approaches being joined up, thanks in part to a bolshie minister.

Recently, the prime minister’s Business Advisory Council was wound up (as was always planned) in the lead-up to the election. In his final note to the PM, chairman Fraser Whineray made the point that the way out of disaster is a joined-up approach.

This leads me back to what Dennis has noted about the context for the current disaster – New Zealand is facing a crisis that dwarfs the Christchurch earthquakes. With this in mind there’s one critical question that springs to mind – what’s the equivalent of the Epic Centre, but on a national scale?

Whatever the answer is, it will need top and bottom up, and a collaboration between private and public sectors. Doing this requires goodwill and trust, and probably a bolshie minister.

Mike ‘‘MOD’’ O’Donnell is a professional director and strategy adviser. His Twitter handle is @modsta and he’s been know to have the occasional craft beer with Roger Dennis. Disclosure of interest – MOD worked with Cera and Epic to put free wi-fi in the Re:Start mall in Christchurch.

Another 837 people signed up to JobSeeker Support in the week of June 5.

It was the second week in a row that a higher number had signed on than the week before. In the week of May 29 there were an extra 540 sign-ups, compared to 212 in the week of May 22.

Numbers are still well down on the week of April 3, when 8569 people signed up. It takes the total who have signed up to the JobSeeker Support Work Ready benefit since March 20 to 43,047.

‘‘More job loss announcements this week point towards businesses that are adjusting their workforces to meet current economic conditions,’’ said Infometrics economist Brad Olsen.

‘‘I’d expect this second wave of unemployment will be felt more broadly across the economy, with job losses spilling over from more tourism-related sectors into the wider economy.

‘‘With business conditions still soft for many, other industries not directly hit by lower tourism numbers, but who are now facing a period of lower earnings and lower spending activity, will also face a need to lay off staff.’’

He said the latest numbers would be the last to be reported before the first round of the wage subsidy started to come to an end.

Businesses had an obligation to retain staff for whom they received the subsidy for 12 weeks. Applications opened on March 17.

‘‘The move away from wage subsidy support will be a defining moment for many businesses, which face tough decisions around the level of economic activity that is occurring, and how they, as a business, are positioned to continue operations.

‘‘With May and June showing some catch-up in spending activity, businesses will be trying to assess what the new normal level of sales is, and will then seek to resize their workforces appropriately.’’

Economist Tony Alexander said the data reflected businesses adjusting to a ‘‘vastly changed’’ operating environment.

‘‘As to whether one calls it a wave or not, I don’t know,’’ Alexander said.

‘‘It seems the terminology has been set and people are trying to squeeze data into fitting that pre-defined framework.’’

We are a unique spot of brightness in a world of darkness. They haven’t got our luxury of getting back to normal.