Dec 15 , 2017 - New Zealand's labour force is projected to keep growing, driven by an increasing population and people working into older ages, Stats NZ said today. The labour force includes both employed and unemployed people.
Currently 2.6 million people are in the labour force. The new projections indicate a total labour force of around 3.0 million in 2030 and 3.5 million in 2068.
People aged 65 years and over (65+) will make up an increasing share of the labour force. In 1991, just 1 percent of the labour force was aged 65+. Currently the 65+ share is 6 percent; this is projected to increase to 9 percent in the late 2020s.
“The labour force will grow into the future, but at a slowing rate, reflecting what is happening with our population," population statistics senior manager Peter Dolan said.
“We are also seeing more people aged 50 and over in the labour force.”
The participation rate for people in their 50s is 85 percent in 2017. This will increase to 88 percent in 2038 and 89 percent in 2068. For people in their 60s, the participation rate is currently 59 percent, but this will rise to 64 percent in 2038 and 67 percent in 2068.
"In the long term, slower population growth and our increasingly older age structure will slow labour force growth, providing the age of eligibility for New Zealand Superannuation remains the same," Mr Dolan said.
Source: StatsNZ follow here for graphs || December 15, 2017 |||
Dec 15, 2017 - Mr Renner is also President of Business Central, representing businesses in the lower North Island and upper South Island. He replaces outgoing BusinessNZ President Tony Sewell of the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce (CECC).
New Vice-Presidents are Andrew Hunt of the Employers & Manufacturers' Association (EMA) and Andrew Leys of the Otago Southland Employers' Association (OSEA).
| A BusinessNZ release || December 15, 2017 |||
Dec 15, 2017 - More young people in 2018 in Canterbury will have the chance to set up and run their own ventures, learning first-hand from local business mentors and developing critical skills for future employment and study. Ara Institute of Canterbury is the new regional partner for The Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) and is enthusiastic about becoming more actively involved after previously hosting YES events.
“We are thrilled to work with Ara Institute of Canterbury to continue supporting local entrepreneurs. We know Ara will be able to offer value and support to the schools we work with to further impact youth entrepreneurship in the region,” Head of YES Dr Colin Kennedy said. The Lion Foundation YES is an experiential year-long programme where senior secondary students set up and run a business while still in school with real products and services, real profit and loss.
Ara will utilise its network of relationships with Canterbury schools and local businesses to support and grow the scheme. Some 500 students will be engaged in the scheme in 2018, participating in the journey of coming up with an innovative idea and developing it further into a successful business.
Head of the Department of Business at Ara, Michaela Blacklock, said that the two organisations share similar values and Ara was delighted to become a YES regional partner.
“Working with the students, teachers, mentors and sponsors involved in Young Enterprise in 2018, we can support and challenge our young people to develop their potential. They could go on to become Canterbury’s future entrepreneurs and business leaders – and that’s exciting,” she said. “The practical nature of YES aligns directly with the Ara focus on applied learning, where students learn by doing from day one. We apply this principle to all of our business programmes ensuring that our students get the best possible learning experience by applying theory as they learn it.” Blacklock says Canterbury is a leader in understanding the social, economic and environmental impacts of business activity.
“Christchurch hosted the Social Enterprise World Forum this year, and we have many successful social enterprises here to inspire YES participants. You only have to look at Anteater and My Green Dinner Table, both created by former Ara students, to see what is possible.”“Young people are playing a pivotal role in transforming and growing the local economy, and in creating a better world.”
CORE Education has provided the umbrella for YES in Canterbury in recent years with the number of students taking part regionally growing year on year. Ara looks forward to building on this from 2018 and is grateful for the work CORE have put into the programme to this point.
| An ARA release || December 15, 2017 |||
Dec 15, 2017 - Japan Airlines (JAL) and Boom Supersonic have announced a strategic partnership to help to bring back commercial supersonic travel. JAL has made a strategic investment of $10 million in Boom and is collaborating with the company to refine the aircraft design and help define the passenger experience for supersonic travel.
The Japanese airline also has the option to purchase up to 20 Boom aircraft through a pre-order arrangement.
Boom is developing a new-generation supersonic aircraft, which will fly at Mach 2.2 and will significantly cut flight times. A flight between London and New York, for example, could be cut from 7 hours to just 3 hours and 15 minutes.
“We’ve been working with Japan Airlines behind the scenes for over a year now,” said Blake Scholl, Founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic. “JAL’s passionate, visionary team offers decades of practical knowledge and wisdom on everything from the passenger experience to technical operations. We’re thrilled to be working with JAL to develop a reliable, easily-maintained aircraft that will provide revolutionary speed to passengers. Our goal is to develop an airliner that will be a great addition to any international airline’s fleet.”
Yoshiharu Ueki, President of Japan Airlines, added: “We are very proud to be working with Boom on the advancement in the commercial aviation industry. Through this partnership, we hope to contribute to the future of supersonic travel with the intent of providing more time to our valued passengers while emphasising flight safety.”
The joint announcement by Boom and JAL follows an announcement last year that Virgin Group has agreed an option to purchase 10 Boom Supersonic aircraft.
| An FTE release || December 15, 2017 |||
Dec 15, 2017 - Air New Zealand has become the first airline in Australasia to launch on the Google Assistant, offering customers a convenient, hands-free way to talk to the airline on the go. The airline’s customers are now able to ask Air New Zealand about a range of topics via the Google Assistant, including check-in and baggage limits, using a range of devices. Air New Zealand Chief Digital Officer Avi Golan says launching with the Google Assistant opens up more options for customers to interact with the airline. “Voice is a growing channel and therefore it’s important that we offer this as an option for customers to interact with us. We see voice as playing a particularly useful role on the day of travel, giving customers who may have their hands full with last minute travel preparations, the ability to check travel information without having to manually look it up on a device.” The airline has been increasingly experimenting with Artificial Intelligence. Its chatbot Oscar has been assisting customers with commonly asked flight, baggage, lounge and Airpoints™ queries since his introduction in February. His performance has steadily improved with every interaction and today he as an average of 900 conversations per day with customers and boasts a conversation success rate of more than 70 percent. “Our Google Assistant app is backed by the same in-house developed Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology that powers our chatbot Oscar and we’ve applied learnings and insights gleaned from Oscar’s introduction to build our Google Assistant offering,” says Mr Golan. Air New Zealand will look to further develop its Google Assistant capability in the future, including introducing the ability to sign into a booking or Airpoints™ account to enable even more personalised responses. The Google Assistant is available across devices, including on eligible Android 6.0+ and iPhones, Android TVs and smart speakers like Google Home (in Australia).
| An Air New Zealand release || December 15, 2017 |||
Dec 15, 2017 - The 11th Ministerial Conference (MC11) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) concluded today in Buenos Aires, Argentina. “Going into this meeting we were apprehensive about what the membership could deliver. There’s a lot of concern in the world about where some of the big countries are heading on trade and whether the framework of rules we have for international trade is fit for purpose, now and for the future” said Minister for Trade and Export Growth David Parker.
“We’re pretty disappointed that on agriculture, the Conference wasn’t ready to agree to cap the subsidies that major countries give their agriculture sectors, which distort world markets and disadvantage not just our farmers but subsistence farmers in developing countries.
“Nor was there a willingness to implement rules to make the regulation of services more transparent, predictable and accessible. But I’m heartened that on both issues, members are keen to keep working, so the huge effort made to advance these negotiations since the last conference hasn’t been wasted. “
Minister Parker considered that some progress has been made on two environmental issues. “I believe that trade policy can contribute to global environmental solutions and sustainable development. New Zealand has a leadership role here. So I’m really pleased that yesterday, we started a dialogue to encourage the WTO to address the global harm being caused by fossil fuel subsidies.
Mr Parker led the effort to deliver a Ministerial statement to the WTO on Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform (FFSR). Endorsed by twelve other WTO Members, the statement confirms the benefits for development, trade and the environment of fossil fuel subsidy reform. It includes a commitment by New Zealand and its supporters to bring the issue into the WTO.
“We were also able to take a step toward prohibiting harmful fisheries subsidies in time to meet the 2020 deadline set by Leaders’ in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.6. “Fisheries subsidies are a major driver of the crisis in global fisheries. Two thirds of global stocks are overfished or fully fished. Harmful subsidies have increased and fish stocks have deteriorated.
“While this week we fell short of locking down what is needed to implement SDG 14.6, members agreed that they will conclude negotiations to prohibit these kinds of subsidies before 2020. To achieve this we will need to continue negotiations toward an agreement in 2018.
Interested Members including New Zealand also agreed to continue their discussions on e-commerce and how to make trade rules deliver more for micro and small exporters.
“You never get everything you want in trade negotiations” said Mr Parker. “But overall, I’m optimistic about where we’ve ended up. At a time of considerable global uncertainty, the WTO’s members have re-confirmed how important the organisation and its rules are for their economies and their citizens.”
| A Release from the Beehive || December 14, 2017 |||
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242