Services sector slows but firms are hiring

Tue, 21 Jan 2020

Weaker sales weighed on service sector activity in December but that may prove temporary as firms employed more staff and New Zealanders have started the year feeling more optimistic about the state of the labour market.The BNZ-BusinessNZ performance of services index fell to a seasonally adjusted 51.9 in December, down one point from November and the lowest since September 2012. The long-term average is 54.4, with a reading above 50 indicating expansion.The activity and sales sub-index dipped to 52.6 from 53.9 while the measure of supplier del...

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