Economic Weekly: Mixed messages
- There was a lot of focus last week on the unemployment rate lifting to 5.6% in Q2 – the highest rate in 11 years
- Overall, however, the data painted a mixed picture of the labour market, with employment growth and the participation rate also rising more than expected
- While we can debate whether or not the labour market is as weak as the unemployment rate suggests, it’s clear that there is still plenty of slack in the market
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Mark Smith
Senior Economist
Mark joined ASB in 2017, with over 20 years of public and private sector experience working as an economist in New Zealand and the UK.
His resume includes lengthy stints at ANZ and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and he has also worked at the Bank of England, HM Treasury and the New Zealand Transport Agency. Mark's areas of specialisation include interest rate strategy, macro-economic analysis and urban economics.
Born and bred in the Waikato, Mark studied at Waikato University where he graduated with a Master of Social Sciences, majoring in Economics.
Mark's key strengths are the ability to use his extensive experience, inquisitive nature, analytical ability, creativity and pragmatism to dig a little deeper and to deliver common sense solutions to tackle complex problems.
When not at work Mark likes to travel, keep fit and spend time with his friends and family.
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Email: Mark