Daily tracker to 26 August 2020

In the second week of heightened restrictions (Alert Level 3 in Auckland, 2 elsewhere) to 26 August 2020, the economy continued to slow, but showed surprising strength in job ads. This suggests some businesses may be coping better than previous similar restrictions. The full dashboard is here.

  • Consumer spending has fallen sharply, as expected. More details here.

  • Traffic congestion has fallen in Auckland, down about 60%. Other regions have fallen by 10%-20%.

  • Internet use is up significantly. We estimate working from home in Auckland has increased by 80%.

  • Electricity use is down a touch, consistent with previous experience of Level 2/3 restrictions.

  • Job ads have been surprisingly resilient. Rebounding over the past week, including in Auckland. The strongest industries have been construction, trades and manufacturing.

  • There has also been no spike in google searches for unemployment in Auckland (available in google trends), which correlated very closely with the previous spike in job losses.

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