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Economic growth, unemployment both heading up in New Zealand

Xinhua, December 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

New Zealand's economy surged in the quarter to the end of September, according to figures out Thursday, but critics said the data showed it was failing to keep up with a growing workforce.

The service industries and manufacturing drove economic growth to 0.9 percent in the September quarter, following a rise of 0.3 percent in the June quarter, said the government's Statistics New Zealand agency.

"The increase this quarter follows lower growth earlier in the year, which has brought the annual growth down to 2.9 percent," national accounts manager Gary Dunnet said in a statement.

The service industries collectively grew 0.9 percent in the quarter, driven by increases in business services, retail trade and accommodation, and transport services.

"The service industries were fuelled by greater domestic demand and spending by international visitors," Dunnet said.

Manufacturing grew 2.8 percent in the September quarter, due to the largest increase in food, beverage, and tobacco manufacturing since March 2012, with production, domestic consumption and exports of food and beverage products all up.

However, this was partly offset by a 2.9-percent fall in the construction industry.

The size of the economy was 244 billion NZ dollars (164.45 billion U.S. dollars) for the year ended September.

Finance Minister Bill English welcomed quarterly economic growth rate, which was higher than the 0.6 percent forecast by the Treasury earlier this week.

"It is clear the economy was softer than expected in the first half 2015 on the back of lower dairy prices. But New Zealand is a confident, open economy that responds quickly to international fluctuations - and we are seeing that in the more positive performance that has occurred since July," English said in a statement.

Treasury forecast continued economic expansion, but with unemployment -- currently at 6 percent -- peaking at 6.5 percent in March next year, before falling again.

Opposition politicians and unions said the economy was failing to keep up with the demand for jobs.

"Per capita GDP still remains lower now than it was at the end of 2014. This shows many Kiwis are not getting ahead under this government. It is why employment is falling and unemployment is rising," Labour Party finance spokesperson Grant Robertson said in a statement.

"Real disposable income per person, which measures the purchasing power of New Zealanders, fell in the latest quarter by 0.2 percent and is down 0.4 percent for the year." Endit