Economic Weekly: Reading over the labour market
- The NZ focus for this week is the Q1 labour market data and comes after the RBNZ stuck to its view that rate cuts are some time off and after the sticky Q1 inflation read. Ahead of next month’s Monetary Policy Statement, it is one of the more pivotal releases.
- There were events of note overseas last week, and more in store for the weeks ahead. US inflation gauges are proving sticky, even as last week’s Q1 GDP result of 1.6% annualised growth slightly underwhelmed expectations.
- The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee meets this week and is the key event offshore.
Contact us
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.
- Email: Mark
