Seafood
Labour Market Dynamics
Industry dataset (economic indicators and labour market dynamics) 
Source: Linked Employer-Employee Data, Stats NZ1
Linked Employer-Employee Data (LEED) data is produced by Stats New Zealand quarterly to measure labour market dynamics. There is a lag in data availability of around 14 months due to the time it takes for the data to be completed by employers, to flow through Inland Revenue, and for Stats NZ to undertake relevant transformations and quality checks2. Here, we show the most recent data available at the time of publishing.
LEED data is available at the ANZSIC ‘group’ level, which is a broader level of classification than the ANZSIC class codes used for the workforce estimates. The relevant ANZSIC groups here are 020 Aquaculture, 041 Fishing3, and 112 Seafood Processing4.
Aquaculture includes 0201 Offshore Longline and Rack Aquaculture, 0202 Offshore Caged Aquaculture, and 0203 Onshore Aquaculture. Fishing includes 0411 Rock Lobster and Crab Potting, 0412 Prawn Fishing, 0413 Line Fishing, 0414 Fish Trawling, Seining and Netting, and 0419 Other Fishing. Seafood processing includes businesses involved in skinning or shelling, grading, filleting, boning, crumbing, battering, and freezing of the seafood.
Median Earnings
Median quarterly earnings for workers in the Fishing industry have continued to track similar to the median quarterly earnings across all industries, with similar fluctuations over time. For those working in the Seafood Processing industry, median earnings were consistently lower than median earnings across all industries.
In the chart, we provide two benchmarks for reference: 'agriculture, forestry and fishing' which covers all industries involved in growing crops, raising animals, growing and harvesting timber, and harvesting fish and other animals from farms or their natural habitats, and a benchmark for “’all industries' which includes every industry group in New Zealand.
Quarterly Turnover Rate
Workforce turnover has been lower in the Aquaculture and Seafood Processing industries across 2020-2022 compared to previous years. Worker turnover for the Fishing industry peaked at 28% for the December 2021 quarter, the highest rate since the June 2016 quarter, when it also exceeded the worker turnover rate for ‘agriculture, forestry and fishing’.
In the chart, we provide two benchmarks for reference: 'agriculture, forestry and fishing' which covers all industries involved in growing crops, raising animals, growing and harvesting timber, and harvesting fish and other animals from farms or their natural habitats, and a benchmark for 'all industries' which includes every industry group in New Zealand.
Number of Filled Jobs
The number of filled jobs is an indicator of economic activity. There is a long-term increasing trend in the number of filled jobs in Aquaculture, with a sharp increase across the end of the 2021 and start of the 2022 quarters. The total number of filled jobs was consistent for Seafood Processing across all years. While there was an increase in the total number of filled jobs in the Fishing industry across 2016, the number of filled jobs has since remained fairly stable.
Footnotes
1. Statistics New Zealand, “A Guide to Interpreting Official Quarterly Statistics Produced from the Linked Employer-Employee Data (LEED).,” Statistics New Zealand, July 29, 2009, https://www.stats.govt.nz/methods/guide-to-interpreting-the-leed-data.
2. Statistics New Zealand.
3. Australian Bureau of Statistics, “Aquaculture: Subdivision 02,” June 26, 2013, https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/classifications/australian-and-new-zealand-standard-industrial-classification-anzsic/2006-revision-2-0/detailed-classification/a/02.
4. Australian Bureau of Statistics, “Seafood Processing - Group 112,” June 26, 2013, https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/classifications/australian-and-new-zealand-standard-industrial-classification-anzsic/2006-revision-2-0/detailed-classification/c/11/112.