Auckland shifted down to Alert Level 2.5 on Monday 31 August. The indicators we monitor have rebounded; job ads are particularly strong. Businesses appear to have fared better compared to initial restrictions in April and May. The full dashboard is here.
Economic activity remains solid outside of Auckland. This shows up in retail spending and electricity use (which is up this week from last year).
Auckland spending on cards fell by 43% during increased alert levels , and rest of NZ rose by 2%. We don’t have data for this week yet.
We estimate working from home is still up around 25% from pre-Covid levels. So, economic disruption may be smaller than implied by lower traffic congestion, mainly related to people going to and doing work.
Traffic in Auckland remains around 25% below last year, Wellington is a touch lower, and other cities we track (Hamilton, Tauranga, Christchurch and Dunedin) are all up.
Job ads strengthened further with reduced restrictions. The job market appears to have fared much better through the latest heightened restrictions. Employment fell in the first week of restrictions but is starting from much better levels than Australia for example.

Weekly employment indicators from Statistics NZ (data to 23/8) and ABS (data to 8/8).