NZ economy to grow at annual 3% through to 2017, driving jobs growth: NZIER

NZ economy to grow at annual 3% through to 2017, driving jobs growth: NZIER
May 27 (BusinessDesk) - The New Zealand economy is expected to grow at about 3 percent a year out to 2017, driving jobs growth and reducing the unemployment rate, according to the NZ Institute of Economic Research's quarterly predictions. The institute estimates 130,000 jobs will be created over the next two years, with the unemployment rate dropping to 5.2 percent by early 2017, from 5.8 percent currently. Wage growth will be "somewhat muted" at about 2.5 percent, reflecting broadly weak inflation and the impact of strong net inbound migrat...