Unemployment holds steady at 6.5 percent

Unemployment is holding steady, with both the labour force size and number of hours worked climbing in the last quarter. Annual employment swelled by 43,000, thanks to increases in both full-time and part-time work. Another promising sign lay in a large rise in actual and usual hours worked for the June 2011 quarter.

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Ex-All Black buys stake in lawnmowing franchise

Former All Black Bernie McCahill is turning his hand to the lawnmowing business, purchasing a 50 percent stake in Jim’s Mowing’s 52 Auckland franchises.McCahill said he was looking for cashflow and thought lawnmowing would be an easy business to get into. And after a stint working for the company, he started dreaming about being the franchisor himself.

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Limited edition Christchurch cookie hits shelves

Iconic Kiwi company, Christchurch-based Cookie Time Limited. has launched a limited edition version of its original Chocolate Chunk cookie as it throws its weight behind the Love Christchurch Made campaign. The specially packaged cookie, featuring the red and black Love Christchurch Made tag, will be available at more than 6000 retail outlets throughout New Zealand for the next six months.

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So your business isn’t online. What’s your excuse?

Less than a third of Kiwi businesses have a website, an MYOB study recently found – and most have no intention of establishing one. Given the ease of doing so thanks to the breadth of options out there, from Facebook business pages to Wordpress and flavors.me, that sounds pretty crazy. But is an online presence really a necessity?

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Innovation of the day: The Q sub

The Q Sub was unveiled at the NZ Boat Show in May this year. At a cost of about $1.2 million, it’s more likely to be something you’ll see around the coastal playgrounds of the rich. But as well as giving the wealthy another way to leisurely spend their time cruising the oceans, the Q Sub could also potentially be used in search and rescue missions. 

Do you have an innovation to share? Enter the Innovator Awards and you could be up in lights.

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