Covid-19: Christchurch economy 'resilient' despite thousands out of work

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There is concern for thousands of people in Christchurch who have lost their jobs due to Covid-19.

The chief executive of economic development and tourism agency, Christchurch NZ, Joanna Norris, told Chris Lynch there has been a 43 per cent increase in people in the city on the jobseeker allowance.

"We've got really strong performance in terms of the resilience of our economy, but we also know there has been a large number of people adversely impacted by Covid-19," she said.

Norris said that represented about 7000 people who had lost their jobs this year.
"It's that group we are particularly worried about."

She said the organisation was developing a recovery plan for the city, which she hoped will help support businesses to create new jobs.

"I think it's a matter of identifying where the jobs are right now," she said.

"We know we need new health workers...we know we are going to need more software developers...we are going to need more people with high-value software engineering skills and so we need to make sure we are training for a full range of careers."

She expected the economy to stay in recession next year and possibly into 2022.

Joanna Norris also defended the appointment of former Regenerate Christchurch chief executive, Ivan Iafeta, as social recovery lead for the Ōtautahi Christchurch Socio-Economic Recovery Plan.

Regenerate Christchurch was disestablished in June 2020, but had previously faced criticism for not delivering results for the city over its existence.

"[Ivan] has a great deal of expertise in the social recovery area, a great deal of expertise in recovery more generally," said Norris.

"I feel very confident that the work delivered through that role will be effective, will be efficient and will use resources wisely."