Wilkinson Kate: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWilkinson Kate: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 26 September 2013. Volume:693;Page:13776. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]2.Hon KATE WILKINSON (National—Waimakariri) to theMinister of Finance: What recent reports has he received on the economy—and particularly indicators of business confidence and employment intentions?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance): There have been reports for some time of increased business confidence. There are now some reports that that higher level of confidence is flowing through to positive hiring intentions. According to a report by recruitment company TMP/Hudson Global Resources hiring expectations among New Zealand employers are at their highest level in 5 years. The survey indicates that around 33 percent of 1000 employers surveyed intend to increase the number of jobs in their organisations in the next quarter. In the South Island around half of all employers surveyed intend to hire more people in the next quarter.Hon Kate Wilkinson: What were the main factors behind the improvement in the employment intentions of businesses in the last quarter?Hon BILL ENGLISH: There will always be particular factors for particular businesses because more jobs are created business by business. TheHudson Report notes that there is greater confidence around household consumption and manufacturing. It also noted that employers who have missed out on opportunities due to limited resources—that is due to not having enough people on their payroll in lean times—are now more confident because they want to build up their numbers so that they can pursue future opportunities and growth plans. For instance this is reflected in 51 percent of employers in the construction property and engineering sector looking to hire more people in the next quarter.Hon Kate Wilkinson: What other reports has the Minister seen indicating a building momentum in the labour market?Hon BILL ENGLISH: There is a range of other indicators showing a positive attitude to the employment market. Online recruitment company SEEK reported that 91000 jobs were advertised in the last 4 months—about 8000 more than in the first 4 months of 2013. The strongest growth in job advertising came from design and architecture up 35 percent; banking and financial services up 26 percent; administration and office support up 15 percent; and trades and services up 23 percent. These are indications of intentions. Of course we will be looking for signs that these intentions are followed through to more jobs on the payroll.Hon Kate Wilkinson: What policies is the Government implementing to help New Zealand businesses become more competitive and have the confidence to invest grow and employ more staff?Hon BILL ENGLISH: There is not one single policy that makes a difference and that is why the Government has set out the Business Growth Agenda which details 300 initiatives across infrastructure employment education natural resource managementand so on. Each of these initiatives is aimed to assist businesses to make the decision to invest another dollar and employ another person and become more internationally competitive. We are also working on making sure that we can have a more flexible housing market because a housing market with fast-rising prices poses a threat both to our financial stability and also to the competitiveness of businesses which need the lowest interest rates and lowest exchange rate that we can have for as long as possible.