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Local Economy Manukau covers 683 square kilometres and has a population of 354,700 people (Statistics NZ June 2007 estimate). Manukau is located within the Auckland region - the largest and fastest growing region in New Zealand with a population of 1.39 million people (Statistics NZ June 2007). The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for Manukau in the year to March 2006 was NZ$10,767 million - 6.9% of New Zealand 's GDP of NZ$155,885 million. This increase was significantly greater than the national growth of 2.2% and the Auckland region, which grew 2.55 in terms of GDP (Statistics NZ and BERL). Average annual economic growth, for the year to March 2006 was 3.5%, compared with the national rate of 2.2%. There were 756 building consents issued for non-residential building in the year ended March 2007, a rise of 3% over the 2007 year, compared with a national drop of 1.7% in the same period (Statistics NZ March 2008). There were 25,090 business units and 127,120 people working in Manukau in February 2007. The largest industry as at February 2007 in terms of employees was the manufacturing industry (19.5%). The retail industry employed 12.9% of total employees in the city, property and business services 11.3%, and transport and storage 10.4% (Statistics NZ February 2007).
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