Economy
Historically, Petone and nearby parts of Lower Hutt acted as the principal area for light industry in this region, with industries including meat processing and freezing, motor vehicle assembly, and timber processing. This activity has been significantly diminished or discontinued in recent decades with either the transfer of industrial activity to the more heavily populated area of Auckland or cessation at a national level. Such movement has often resulted from competitive pressures on commercial organisations for increased efficiency, as a result of opening up the New Zealand economy to international competition since the mid-1980s.
Trends over the past 25 years have seen service, distribution, and consumer-oriented activity replace the industrial activity previously a feature of the Petone area. Lower Hutt is the main location for light industrial activity in the Wellington Region, but it largely lacks heavy industry.
A significant proportion of Lower Hutt's population commutes to the commercial and Government offices in Wellington 12 km to the south-west.
Today Lower Hutt is home to leading Crown Research Institutes such as GNS Science and Industrial Research Ltd (IRL) along with many other cutting-edge research organisations in high-end manufacturing, research and technology.
Read more about this topic: Lower Hutt
Famous quotes containing the word economy:
“I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical terms.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)