New Zealand's services sector continued its robust expansion last month with employment in the sector at its highest level in seven years, according to the latest performance of services index (PSI) out Monday.
The BNZ-Business New Zealand PSI for August was 57.9, down 0.5 points from July, on a scale where above 50 indicates expansion and below 50 contraction.
The August figure also compared with an average monthly result of 56.6 so far this year.
Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O'Reilly said in a statement that employment was at its highest level since the survey began in 2007, as was supplier deliveries.
BNZ senior economist Craig Ebert said confidence was high across most sectors.
"We're seeing encouraging resilience in the PSI, consistent with faster than average economic growth," Ebert said in the statement.
For the third straight month, all five main sub-indices were in expansion, with employment on 56, supplier deliveries on 59, stocks/inventories on 56.2, new orders/business on 58.5 and activity/sales on 57.6.
The GDP-weighted BNZ-Business New Zealand performance of composite index, which combines the performance of manufacturing index and PSI for August, remained at 57.6./.