Councillors at yesterday's economic development committee meeting were considering the latest Infometrics Quarterly Economic Monitor for Dunedin, covering the year to June.
The report showed unemployment in Dunedin had dropped by 0.6%, to 6%, which still put Dunedin well above the national unemployment rate of 4.1%.
Dunedin's GDP was also up 2.3%, but compared with a 3.1% increase for Otago and a 2.5% increase across New Zealand.
Business analysis contractor Benje Patterson told councillors the city was tracking well towards one of the main goals of its economic development strategy - to create 10,000 new jobs in a decade.
He said a ''mid-point'' progress report, which was being worked on now, had already identified 5000 extra jobs had been created, even after major setbacks such as the Cadbury factory closure.
Dunedin's economic development strategy took effect in 2013 - making it nearly seven years old - but the data being discussed only covered the year to June.
Mr Patterson said other indicators also pointed to a positive picture, including a rise in average household income from $66,000 in 2013 to $86,000 in 2019.
The next few years were expected to be tougher, despite major projects such as the Dunedin Hospital rebuild, as ''economic headwinds'' threatened, he cautioned.
Most councillors were quick to praise the ''good news story'' painted by the figures.
Cr Jim O'Malley said employment growth appeared to be driven by population growth, which underscored the value of ensuring the city was ''liveable'' and affordable.
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull said the results also showed the value of being able to leverage the city's international connections in China and elsewhere.
Those connections - particularly in the gaming and IT sector - were an important source of investment, markets or workers, and Dunedin's links ''give us a head start'', he said.
However, Cr Lee Vandervis said a pessimistic view of the figures was a more realistic one, as the various indicators in the report continued to lag behind New Zealand averages.
Anyone who believed the report was positive ''is simply rolling it in glitter'', he said.
''We don't even make it to average,'' he said.
Deputy mayor Chris Staynes said the indicators showed the gap between Dunedin and the New Zealand average was closing.
''We are getting better.
''I think the future for this city is looking really bright,'' he said.
Councillors voted to accept the report.
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Don't just blame Cadbury, who was making noise when F&P went,or St George jams, 2 tanneries, 2 soft drink factories, a couple of furniture makers, Champion Stoves, a rope factory, a soap factory, a sock factory, a couple of woolen mills, some tap wear casting factories, a freezing works and another 50 or 60 manufactures that I haven't mentioned here and soon we will lose some employment opportunities caused by a Government initiative to muck about with our Poly Tech Not everyone is suited to be in the game making type of employment so we really do need to look at other things.
And amidst any positivity the usual deficit thinking from councillor Vandervis.
The most important ingredient of this upsurge...the stadium! Without it we would have been forgotten long ago.
Perception is everything but Lee Vandervis wouldn’t know anything about that. He’s all about the cost of everything and the value of nothing!
"Mr Patterson said other indicators also pointed to a positive picture, including a rise in average household income from $66,000 in 2013 to $86,000 in 2019."
Who, reading this, feels 30% better off today than they did 6 years ago? There are so many problems with this statement it's difficult to know where to begin. Firstly, if Mr Patterson is talking about "average" as the arithmetic mean, he's incompetent to analyse this situation or deliberately disingenuous. Incomes, like house prices, should be quoted as medians. Also, as more adult children aren't leaving home, household size is increasing. Median personal purchasing power is the only relevant metric in this context, i.e. adjusted for cost of living (not just CPI!).