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Photo: 123rf The number of job ads has ticked up for the first time in a year. The Seek Employment report for July indicates the number of ads increased 3 percent from June, but were still down 29 percent year-on-year. Applications per job ad were little changed from June's reading. Read more: Seek country manager Rob Clark said what had not changed was fierce competition among candidates - that showed "no sign of abating". "While it is pleasing to see an increase in job ad volumes, this comes after five months of consecutive declines, including an 8 percent fall in June," he said. Retail and consumer ads rose 24 percent, followed by hospitality and tourism up 20 percent, with government and defence up 22 percent. Consulting and strategy was the only sector to record a monthly fall in j...

Limited traffic on Auckland Harbour Bridge Photo: NZTA / Twitter Millions of dollars are blowing in the wind - that is the cost of weather-related restrictions on Auckland's Harbour Bridge, according to an economist. Gusty conditions on Monday meant the bridge was reduced to two lanes in each direction, and speed restrictions were in force. Speed limits kick in when winds hit 90 kilometres an hour; when gusts reached 110kmh, the bridge could close all together. In that situation, traffic has to take the long way around on the Western Ring Road via State Highway 16 and SH18. Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen told Checkpoint the bridge closures were a significant cost to people. Read more: "We estimated ... based on the amount of time the bridge has been closed over the last co...

A new model suggests NZ's unemployment rate could soon top 5 percent. Photo: 123rf.com New Zealand's unemployment rate may have already reached 4.8 percent, and could hit 5 percent by the end of the year, an economist says. AUT economics professor Tim Maloney has developed a new model that gives more timely information on likely changes in the rate. Stats NZ only updates the rate each quarter, whereas Maloney's model provides a monthly reading. "We collect data from the past to indicate what the unemployment rate is but by the time we look at it, that quarter is already gone. "To make good decisions, we need to know currently what the unemployment rate is, what the state of the aggregate economy is." Read more: Maloney said the UR-Now model estimated the unemployment rate might have hi...

Photo: Getty Images Specialty dairy company a2 Milk increased its full year profit on the back of an improved Chinese market. Key numbers for the year ended June compared with a year ago: Net profit $167.6m vs $155.6m Revenue $1.67b vs $1.59b Operating earnings $234.3m vs $219.3m Cash position $969m vs $757.2m No dividend a2 Milk benefited from rising sales on its infant milk formula (IMF) in China despite a falling birth rate and tougher economic conditions. Overall revenue was up 5 percent, as the improvement in China offset falls in Australia-New Zealand earnings, continued losses in the US market and for its Southland based company Mataura Valley Milk. Chief executive David Bortolussi said its strategy remained primarily focused on the China market to get positive growth in a chall...

SkyCity Adelaide Photo: 123RF / Andrey Moisseyev Casino operator SkyCity Entertainment has warned shareholders of a $94.3 million writedown on its Adelaide casino. The company said the non-cash charge reflected the costs of the move to electronic gambling cards. It said it had updated cost assumptions about making it mandatory for all players to use e-cards, rather than cash, at its Adelaide casino in 2026. Another driver behind the writedown was the additional legal and compliance costs that came with host responsibility programmes for staff. SkyCity said it was committed to implementing mandatory e-cards across all casinos to better monitor customer play and manage risk. It also expected to record a one-off tax charge of $129.6m in its financial statements for the year ended June. Thi...

Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi ANZ bank has cut some of its fixed home loan and term deposit rates again. The country's banks have been slicing interest rate offerings since a dovish statement by the central bank in July pointed to sooner than expected rate cuts. After the Reserve Bank cut the official cash rate to 5.25 percent last week, banks have continued to drop rates. ANZ's latest home loan cuts include a 40 basis point drop on the one year special rate to 6.45 percent, and a 50 basis point drop on the 18 month rate to 5.99 percent. Its one year rate is the best available on the market for that term. ANZ has also cut term deposit rates with all changes effective from 20 August. The bank had previously cut interest rates in July and August. Minutes after the RBNZ cut the OCR last week,...