Bay Employment Surge

Two dozen companies are looking to move to, expand or set up in the Bay - fuelling a jobs surge that cements Tauranga's growing reputation as a business and innovation city.

There is also confidence elsewhere in the jobs sector with one recruitment agency reporting an 80 per cent growth in business since last year.

These developments follow 11 businesses moving to, expanding or launching in Tauranga and creating 492 jobs last year. This number is expected to grow to 521 by the end of this year, according to a Priority One report.

These businesses had invested more than $20 million in staff and more than $40 million in plant and equipment. Fifty-two families had moved to the Western Bay as a result.

Priority One strategic manager Greg Simmonds told the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend Tauranga was gaining a reputation as a hub for innovation and skills, which, alongside our other competitive advantages such as the Port of Tauranga, its closeness to Auckland and the availability of competitively-priced industrial land was attracting more businesses.

Key growth sectors include horticulture and food processing, ICT, marine discovery (pharmaceuticals, agrichemicals and aquaculture), specialised manufacturing, education, health, energy and distribution and logistics, he said.

Businesses that have moved here include Brother International, the leading provider of print and imaging equipment, sewing machines and labelling hardware in New Zealand and the Pacific, which created more than 40 jobs and shifted 35 families when it moved its headquarters from Wellington. Jenkins Freshpac Systems also moved 11 families from Mount Wellington in Auckland.

The Priority One economic impact report went on to say: "For all businesses, Tauranga has met or surpassed expectations. It is more affordable, easier to achieve work/life balances and all businesses have experienced growth since relocating to the region.

"Businesses have identified further opportunities for growth as a result of being located in the sub region."

Tauranga's new university had been given the green light and was predicted to generate $133 million in regional revenue and provide more than 600 jobs.

The rebounding job market is also helping drive down unemployment.

In total, 4148 people in Tauranga, including Greerton and Mount Maunganui, were on Job Seeker Support in the September quarter compared with 4228 in the same time period in 2013. Numbers of people receiving Sole Parent Support had also dropped in the September 2013 quarter with 2913 on the benefit compared with 2581 in September 2014.

Bay of Plenty regional commissioner for social development Mike Bryant said that number was expected to drop further with the hospitality/tourism season, which would be boosted further by the number of cruise ships visiting Tauranga.

The Western Bay of Plenty continues to go through a growth spurt with the building of roads, shopping malls and new housing developments, he said.

1st Call Recruitment general manager Angela Singleton said the businesses had had an 80 per cent growth from 2013.

"Engineering, technical trades and services and the veterinarian sector are still our top performers. The economy is really strong at the moment and hasn't really slowed," she said.

"There are a lot of larger companies coming to town and seeing the benefit of being in the Bay with cheaper salaries, cheaper land and better facilities available."

Ian Chitty, of Personnel Resources Temp Resources, said the company was placing 20 per cent more people into jobs.

"The economy is improving with lots of infrastructure projects and growth business."

Right Click Employment Solutions Tauranga owner Paula Baker said there had been an increase in jobs across the board.

"I think the increase will definitely continue into next year. The general feel when talking to grassroots businesses is that confidence is up."

Trade Me Tauranga job listings for the July-September quarter were up 14 per cent compared with the same period last year, with 1557 listings.

Healthcare and engineering were the biggest movers.

An Infometrics Tauranga City Economic profile showed in 2013 Tauranga had a resident population of 119,800 that was up 1.3 per cent from 2012 and bucked national growth of 0.8 per cent.

It showed the biggest contributors to growth in business over the past 10 years were rental, hiring and real estate services followed by financial and insurance services.