Welcome to the August/September edition of the Economic Bulletin. In this Bulletin, we look at the tax plans that the major parties have put forth this election and discuss what is missing from these plans. We examine some new research which shows that, in New Zealand, our stressed housing market enables landlords to demand a dividend from rising wages. We also take a look at some recent reports on the potential effects of artificial intelligence (AI) on employment, and the likely adoption of AI in New Zealand workplaces.
In our regular updates, we examine the latest economic forecasts from the Reserve Bank, the Treasury, the commercial banks, and the International Monetary Fund. We also discuss the latest statistics for migration, consumer activity, trade, business confidence, and housing. For the employment, wage, social welfare, union membership, and consumer price inflation statistics for the June quarter, please see the July Bulletin. For the GDP and balance of payments statistics for the March quarter, please see the June Bulletin. The CTU will be providing a separate analysis of Treasury’s Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Update (PREFU), which was released on 12 September – so keep your eyes peeled for that.