One of the things we are doing at TIG is ensuring that our industry develops well from a people, skills and talent perspective. We want the best people to choose Telecommunications as the industry for their careers. We have been gathering and assessing data to determine the shape of the industry, its strengths and weaknesses and where we should focus attention and investment to ensure long-term success.

Here are some of the facts that I find fascinating.

GDP growth

Over the past ten years our industry was the fastest growing among 30 industries that make up the NZ economy. Telecommunications measured GDP growth of 7.3% per annum vs 2.9% for the rest of the economy over 2000 to 2009

Employment and productivity

Our Industry directly employs some 14,200 people. Over the last 8 years this has been growing at 1.2% per annum. But as the GDP growth over the period was 70% since the beginning of the decade this shows significant productivity growth. It appears that productivity growth in Telecommunications has been at the top of New Zealand industries.

Skill Levels

Of the 14,200 these people are broken down by skill levels into over 7,000 highly skilled, 5,000 + skilled and just over 1,000 semi skilled.

Employment growth

The industry had about 600 job openings each year from 2003 to 2008 about 75% of these were growth. So 2,250 new largely skilled or highly skilled jobs were created over this 5 year period with a similar trend to continue forward.

Largest level of private investment in New Zealand

At over 1 billion dollars invested each year, our industry invests more than any other private industry in New Zealand.

So What?

So, we are an industry that is growing, employs highly skilled, well paid people, with significant numbers of new jobs created each year. You will be working in a private, competitive and dynamic space if you decide to work in the telecommunications industry.

Our industry even grew in the midst of the 2009 recession while the bulk of NZ industry contracted!

This is a great place to choose to build your career!

Regards

Rob Spray