The number of businesses and the number of people they employed had seen growth in the five years to 2018 after dipping slightly in the five years after the 2008 global financial crisis, according to data from Statistics New Zealand.

The number of businesses grew more than 12 per cent in the five years to 2018, showing recovery after the slight decline in the five years after 2008.

“Business demography data for 2009–18 reflects the impact of the global financial crisis and domestic events on New Zealand business counts,” said business register manager Mary Reid.

“Data also reflects the ongoing effect for 2009–13 and how large the recovery was over the following five years.”

Over the five years immediately following the 2008 global financial crisis, both enterprises and employees struggled to keep up with their pre-global financial crisis levels. In 2013, there were 0.1 per cent fewer enterprises and 1.8 per cent fewer employees than in 2008.

In contrast, the five years ending February 2018 showed a recovery. The number of enterprises and employees had increased 12.1 per cent and 15.0 per cent, respectively – an average annual rise of 2.3 per cent for enterprises and 2.8 per cent for employees. Annual employment growth each year did not dip below 2.5 per cent.

There were also two contrasting growth period in the New Zealand economy after 2008. The average annual economic growth (based on GDP for March years) for 2009–13 was 1.0 per cent. For 2014–18, the average annual growth was around 3.3 per cent.

Administrative and support services employment dropped just 1.2 per cent between 2009 and 2013, then added 27.1 percent more employees over the five years to 2018.

Accommodation and food services had a similar turnaround in employment, recovering from a 3.9 percent drop in the first five years to gain 24.7 percent over the last five years.

Manufacturing – still the largest employer in 2018 – had 11.9 per cent fewer employees over the five years after 2008, then a 9.2 per cent increase in employment over the next five years.

Health care and social assistance was the only industry that maintained some consistency over the whole 10-year period, with employment gains of 10.3 percent and 11.2 percent over the two five-year periods.

According to Statistics NZ, the business demography statistics only cover economically significant enterprises operating in New Zealand, mostly those with an annual GST turnover of $30,000 or more.