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Screen-print illustration of Sandy Point and the Oreti River mouth, Invercargill City
Illustration generated with AI.

Southland (Murihiku). Council area

Copilot training in Invercargill City

Invercargill City work spans the central offices, Lorneville processing and Bluff freight. A Microsoft 365 exercise can connect a worksheet, an owner and a checked handover across those settings.3,8,9

Enquire Read the local brief

53.6% of Invercargill City’s employed residents are in desk-based roles.

Role typeInvercargill CityNZDiff (pts)
Desk-based 53.6% 63.6% −10.1
People-facing 10.1% 9.0% +1.0
Hands-on 36.4% 27.4% +9.1
Employed residents29,6702,622,534

About 15,900 people in desk-based roles. 2023 Census, counted where people live.

Rows 2 to 4: ANZSCO major groups 1, 2, 5, 6 / 4 / 3, 7, 8. Stats NZ 2023 Census, employed residents. Proxy per ILO 2025; not a forecast.
Residents
55,6002023 Census
Business locations
5,697Feb 2025, +7.2% since 2020
Employees (jobs here)
29,860at local businesses, Feb 2025
Towns with a page
21,000+ residents

What AI means for work in Invercargill City

4 findings from Stats NZ data for Invercargill City, and what each means for Microsoft Copilot training.

Workforce by occupation group, Invercargill City against New Zealand

53.6% of employed residents in Invercargill City work in desk-based roles, against 63.6% across New Zealand. The difference is mostly labourers: 13.9% of employed residents here, against 9.0% nationally. Size the licences to the desk-based roles rather than headcount. A pilot with office, scheduling and management staff shows value before you pay for everyone.

Employed residents by occupation group, Invercargill City and New Zealand, 2023 Census
Occupation groupChartPeopleInvercargill CityNZ
Managers 3,870 13.0% 18.3%
Professionals 6,456 21.8% 26.8%
Technicians and trades workers 4,359 14.7% 12.5%
Community and personal service workers 2,982 10.1% 9.0%
Clerical and administrative workers 3,069 10.3% 10.8%
Sales workers 2,493 8.4% 7.8%
Machinery operators and drivers 2,334 7.9% 5.9%
Labourers 4,113 13.9% 9.0%

Desk-based = ANZSCO major groups 1, 2, 5 and 6 (managers, professionals, clerical and administrative, sales): roles where AI assistance is most applicable. Broad proxy informed by ILO 2025; not measured adoption or an employment forecast. People-facing = major group 4. Hands-on = major groups 3, 7 and 8.

Source: Stats NZ, 2023 Census, usually resident employed people; ILO, Generative AI and jobs: a refined global index of occupational exposure (2025).

Health and social care employs the most people in Invercargill City

Top employer: health and social care, 4,792 jobs (16.0%). Heat cells mark industries over-represented against New Zealand. Plan Copilot use cases by department in the largest employers first.

Share of paid jobs by industry, Invercargill City and New Zealand, February 2025
IndustryChartJobsShareNZ×
Health and social care 4,792 16.0% 12.0% 1.3×
Manufacturing 4,089 13.7% 9.4% 1.4×
Retail 3,425 11.5% 9.3% 1.2×
Construction 2,475 8.3% 8.2% 1.0×
Education 2,202 7.4% 8.5% 0.9×
Hospitality 1,858 6.2% 7.2% 0.9×
Professional services 1,603 5.4% 8.3% 0.7×
Public administration 1,547 5.2% 6.4% 0.8×
Wholesale 1,396 4.7% 5.0% 0.9×
Transport and warehousing 1,275 4.3% 4.2% 1.0×

Share of paid employees at business locations in the area, by ANZSIC06 industry division. × is the local share divided by the national share.

Source: Stats NZ, Business Demography Statistics, February 2020 and 2025.

Business locations +7.2% and employees +6.8%, 2020 to 2025

Paid employees 27,955 (2020) to 29,860 (2025), +6.8% against +5.0% nationally. Business locations 5,313 to 5,697. Largest job gain: health and social care (+809). Largest loss: media and telecoms (−75).

Business locations
5,3135,697 in 2025, from 2020
+7.2% NZ +9.6%
Employees (jobs here)
27,95529,860 in 2025, from 2020
+6.8% NZ +5.0%
Change in employees by industry in Invercargill City, February 2020 to February 2025
IndustryChart20202025Change
Health and social care 3,9834,792+809
Professional services 1,3521,603+251
Farming, forestry, fishing 8581,090+232
Media and telecoms 204129−75
Education 2,2662,202−64
Wholesale 1,4221,396−26

Geographic units (business locations) and paid employees, February of each year. Small counts are randomly rounded by Stats NZ, so small changes can be noise.

Source: Stats NZ, Business Demography Statistics, February 2020 and 2025.

Remote readiness: work at home and household internet

On-site sessions, at your workplace, usually suit teams here better than remote ones. We come to you.

9.2%

Mainly worked from home, census day 2023

New Zealand 17.7%

87.0%

Households with internet access

New Zealand 90.5%

Main means of travel to work on census day, and access to the internet in occupied private dwellings.

Source: Stats NZ, 2023 Census, usually resident employed people.

Towns in Invercargill City

Each town has its own page and brief. Largest first.

Towns in Invercargill City
TownResidentsDesk-based Chart Business locationsSince 2020
Invercargill 49,000 53.2% 4,809 +8.5%
Bluff 1,800 49.4% 177 −6.3%
New Zealand4,993,92363.6%654,435+9.6%

Where Microsoft Copilot helps first in Invercargill City

Teams need to know which files are approved before using Copilot on processing or cargo records. The review step matters where a summary might affect a shift or shipment.8,9

Food processing

Use a sample Excel packing register to draft a Word shift note, then compare exceptions with the workbook before sign-off.8

Bluff freight

Turn an approved Teams cargo discussion into an Outlook draft with missing shipment facts marked for the port contact.3,9

A district worksheet can name the file, its owner, the next step and the person checking figures for a processing-to-port handover.8,9

Public Microsoft Copilot workshops in Southland

There is no public Copilot workshop in Southland on the calendar yet. Register interest below and we will tell you when one is scheduled. Organisations can book private training for their own staff at any time.

Register interest in a public workshop in Southland

Tell me when there is a workshop in Southland

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Elsewhere in Southland

Invercargill Water Tower. (52083405924)
Invercargill Water Tower. (52083405924) by Bernard Spragg. NZ from Christchurch, New Zealand, Public domain.

Microsoft Copilot training in Invercargill City: questions

Could a Bluff team use Copilot in Outlook?

A draft reply can summarise an approved dispatch thread, provided the cargo owner checks the facts before sending.9

What file should a Lorneville exercise start with?

Choose a safe example of the packing or labelling register and identify the supervisor who verifies its entries.8

Why cover the whole city council area here?

The council area includes Bluff, so its freight workflow differs from an Invercargill town-only office example.3,9

Train your team in Invercargill City

  1. ScopeHeadcount, sites, Microsoft 365 plan and licences, and the teams you want to start with.
  2. PlanWe propose a course, a pilot group and a format, and agree the files and meetings to use.
  3. TrainOn-site or over Teams, in Outlook, Word, Excel and Teams, with your own work.
  • In person
  • Remote
  • Half-day workshop
  • Full-day workshop
  • Team rollout

Independent training by TheColab. Not affiliated with Microsoft.

Enquire

Tell us about your team in Invercargill City. We reply by email with a suggested course and format.

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Sources

Local research checked 29 September 2026. Population and business figures come from Stats NZ.