Why is this important?
Changes to numbers of employees in different workforce sectors helps us understand the labour market. The workforce includes everyone in paid work, plus people who are unemployed but actively seeking work. Businesses and their employees are classified based on their predominant activity. The term ‘sector’ is often used interchangeably with the term ‘industry’..
Key points
- In 2017 the Selwyn District employment grew by 6.1% from the previous year. Waimakariri grew by 1.4%, while Christchurch grew by 1.3%. The Greater Christchurch urban area had employment growth of 1.7%.
- The top five business sectors in the Greater Christchurch urban area in 2017 were:
- Health care and social assistance (27,413 employees)
- Manufacturing (26,305)
- Construction (25,213)
- Retail Trade (24,301)
- Professional Scientific and Technical Services (20,048)
- These 5 sectors out of 19 employed 123,280 people, 53% of the total workforce.
Note this is an interactive chart and you can click on the legend items to change what is shown on the graph.
Commentary
Over the past decade Waimakariri and Selwyn Districts have seen higher rates of employment growth than Christchurch. The Greater Christchurch urban area rates of growth closely follow that of Christchurch City as it has approximately 12-14 times the number of employees of the Waimakariri and Selwyn Districts.
The construction sector has experienced the most growth in the past decade from 14,121 in 2008 to 25,213 in 2017 (79%) as a result of the rebuild following the Canterbury earthquakes.
In 2008, manufacturing employed the most workers (30,181 people), however this industry declined to 26,305 people in 2017 (a 13% decline).
