OUTLOOK - Grow Wellington

11Manufacturingsector29Table 11.1 summarises the contribution of themanufacturing sector to the Wellington andNew Zealand economies.Manufacturing in the Wellington region employed morethan 16,000 FTEs in 2007, or 7.4% of all FTEs. Theseworkers produced $1.5 billion in GDP through 2,000 businesses.As manufacturing businesses tend to employ more FTEs thanother sectors, its share of business units was relatively small.The performance of the manufacturing sector in the Wellingtonregion compared to nationally over the short and long termis presented in Table 11.2.The manufacturing sector as a whole throughout New Zealandstruggled in 2007. A significant portion of the blame for thiswas placed on the high exchange rate, which affected exportssubstantially. The result was a sharp fall in employment in thesector in Wellington and New Zealand. Over the long term, thesector has also experienced declines in employment in Wellingtonalthough there has been slight growth in New Zealand overall.The picture in business units has been similar although thenumbers are not quite so negative. The number of businessesin the sector in Wellington was flat in 2007 and down by just12 businesses since 1997.The manufacturing sector as a whole throughoutNew Zealand struggled in 2007.Table 11.1 Manufacturing: summaryManufacturing FTEs % GDP ($2007m) % Business units %Wellington Region 16,352 7.4% 1,532 7.2% 2,011 4.0%New Zealand 245,931 13.3% 24,233 14.7% 24,810 5.0%Source:BERL Regional Database, Statistics NZTable 11.2 Manufacturing: performance% ChangeManufacturing 1997 2005 2006 2007 2007 1997-2007FTEsWellington Region 20,975 17,762 17,547 16,352 -6.8% -2.5%New Zealand 244,398 258,993 252,113 245,931 -2.5% 0.1%BUSINESS UNITSWellington Region 2,023 2,040 2,011 2,011 0.0% -0.1%New Zealand 22,623 24,786 24,878 24,810 -0.3% 0.9%Source: BERL Regional Database, Statistics NZ