Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Carolyn Young: Retail NZ CEO on the rising unemployment rate and its impact on the economy

Transcript

Carolyn Young: Retail NZ CEO on the rising unemployment rate and its impact on the economy · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Unemployments at its highest level since twenty twenty, now sitting
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: at five point two percent. That's sixteen thousand jobs gone
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: in the last year. Retail's been hit hard, with full
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: time jobs down two percent last quarter. Carolyn Young is
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Retailing z ED CEO with me this morning. Karen, Good morning, whatever.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: How are you guys feeling about looking ahead? Is this
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: the worst it'll get? Do you think for retail? Or
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: more shedding to come?
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Look, it's really hard to tell. We have an advice
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: service for our members and we're still every week the
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: top issues that are being discussed with through our advice
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: service restructures and closures, So you know, the pain is
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: still being felt and so could be more more to come.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: I would think at this point.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Hard to keep morale up at the moment.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: It is tough, Yeah, and I think you know, retailers
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: are trying to really focus on some of the good
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: work that's being done to keep morale up. But business
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: owners and certainly in those means, are really struggling around,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: you know, how how to make sure that they survive
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: through this downturn to come out the other side.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: What I mean, everyone's waiting on the reserve Bank to
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: just pull trigger and keep cutting, cut and cutting. You know,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: we'd like it, we'd like them to prune like it's
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: coming into summer. But but what what do you is there?
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: You know, are people realistic, business owners, realistic about how
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: much the government can actually do in a situation like this, Well.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: We really need greater consumer confidence. That's the key driver
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: for the most discernible retail because if you take out
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: core essential services where you know people are going to
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: have to go to the supermarket, they need electricity, detail
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: in taile, communications and fuel. If they don't, if consumers
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: don't have anything left in their pocket, then they're not
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: going to be out buying anything else. If they're not
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: confident in their job security, they're not going to be
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: thinking about buying other things. We really have to make
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: sure that, you know, people are feeling secure in those
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: spaces to their confidence arise for them to be able
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: to spend more money in the wider sector. And part
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: of that will be around you know, interest rates and
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: mortgage affordability and rent affordability and those everyday expenses.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, appreciate that, Karen, Thank you, Carol and young who's
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: with retailing zed for more.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: From early edition with Ryan Bridge.
• 2:21
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• 2:24
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