Local Job Flows in New Zealand

Abstract

Small changes in the level of employment are generally the result of a large number of jobs being created and a roughly balancing number of jobs being destroyed In this paper we examine patterns of job creation and destruction for local labour markets in New Zealand between 1987 and 2003. The growth or decline of employment in local labour markets is far from homogeneous. The paper focuses on whether local labour markets experience greater employment growth following periods of high rates of simultaneous job creation and destruction (job churn). However, we find little evidence to support this hypothesis. The estimated effect of the level of job churn on future employment growth, within labour markets, was found to be statisticallyand economically insignificant.