KEY POINTS:
Property has always been where New Zealanders have spent most of their money, but now it's also the nation's number one industry - in terms of people working in it.
Jobs in the property sector have now outstripped manufacturing as the country's biggest employer.
Statistics New Zealand's Linked Employer-Employee Data (LEED) series showed 238,200 people were employed in property and business services during the September 2006 year, up 3 per cent from 2005.
The manufacturing industry fell to second with a 1.9 per cent fall in the number of jobs to 237,000. The textiles, clothing, footwear and leather manufacturing sub-industry was the key driver of the decline in manufacturing jobs.
Total filled jobs across all industries increased 1.7 per cent to 1,751,450 in the September 2006 year from a year earlier. Over five years, the number of jobs had increased 17.4 per cent.
The mining, construction, electricity, gas and water supply industry grouping had the highest filled job growth rate of 7.3 per cent in the year to September 2006 and 51.8 per cent in the five years to September 2006.
The construction industry was the key contributor to the increase in filled jobs within this industry grouping.
Agriculture, forestry and fishing together with manufacturing were the only two industries to report a decline in filled jobs (2.0 per cent and 1.9 per cent, respectively) in the year.
The average mean quarterly earnings for all industries was $10,530 during the September 2006 year -- up 4.5 per cent from the September 2005 year and 21.7 per cent increase from the September 2001 year.
Health and community services had the highest average mean earnings growth of 6.9 per cent and 29.3 per cent during the two reference periods.
The finance and insurance industry continued to be the highest paid industry with average mean quarterly earnings of $16,450 while the lowest paid were in agriculture, forestry and fishing at $8030.
- NZPA
