SEEK Employment Report March

• There was no change to job ads m/m, but job ads increased 2% q/q, the first quarterly rise since 2022.

• Ads declined 1% in the major cities, but rose 3% outside the metro areas. 

• Wellington (2%) and Canterbury (1%) were the largest regions where job ads grew m/m.

• The smaller regions recorded significant m/m job ad growth in March, led by Marlborough (24%).

• Ad volumes declined m/m in the Consumer Services and Industrial sectors but rose in the Public Sector.

• Healthcare & Medical (7%) and Education & Training (7%) were among the industries to record job ad growth in March.  

*Applications per job ad are recorded with a one-month lag. Data shown in this report refers to February data.

“This is the first time quarterly ad volumes have risen in over two and a half years, suggesting that ad volumes appear to be stabilising after two years of steady decline. 

“The smaller regions recorded much of the growth month-on-month, but looking broadly at the entire quarter, most regions are demonstrating positive movement.

“There are early signs that economic and labour market growth may be on the horizon, albeit amid a very uncertain global trade and economic backdrop.”

Job ads remained steady m/m in March. With a 2% rise, quarterly ad volumes have risen for the first time since August 2022, indicating a stabilisation of the market. 

Job ads declined 15% y/y, which is the smallest decline in almost two years. 

Job ads grew outside of the metro hubs (3%) but fell in the metro regions (-1%).  There was growth in both the cities and regional areas for the Public sector (4%), and to a lesser extent in the Construction sector and Professional Services outside of the major cities. This offset distinct decline in the Consumer and Industrial sectors in the major cities. 

Applications per job ad continue to climb, rising 2% m/m, making for an extremely competitive market for candidates. 

Figure 1: National SEEK job ad percentage change m/m (March 2024 to March 2025) 

Figure 2: Job ad percentage change by sector March 2025 v February 2025 (m/m)

While Auckland declined (-1%), Wellington (2%) and Canterbury (1%) were the only large regions to record job ad growth m/m. 

The smaller regions, which are susceptible to more fluctuation due to smaller volumes, recorded significant m/m job ad growth with Marlborough (24%), Tasman (16%) and Taranaki (14%) leading the rest of the nation. Aside from Taranaki (-5%), these regions have also recorded q/q job ad growth, indicating that it is not simply a short-term rise, with Marlborough up 11% q/q and Tasman rising 5% q/q. 

Canterbury (7%) and Otago (6%) also recorded significant job ad growth this past quarter. 

All regions recorded growing applications per job ad m/m, aside from Tasman (-8%), Marlborough (-2%) and Wellington, where there was no change. Waikato (8%), Manawatu (7%) and Otago (6%) were among the regions that saw notable jumps in applications per job ad in February. 

Table 1: National and regional job ad growth/decline comparing: i) m/m, ii) q/q and iii) y/y

Figure 3: National SEEK job ad percentage change by major region - March 2021 to March 2025. 

Figure 4: National SEEK job ad percentage change by region (March 2025 vs February 2025)

A decline in the metro regions for the Consumer Services and Industrial sectors offset growth in the Public sector m/m, which led to no change in ad volumes for the month. 

Declines in Hospitality & Tourism (-9%) and Retail & Consumer Products (-10%) among other industries contributed to the Consumer Services sector decline, whereas rises in Healthcare & Medical (7%) and Education & Training (7%) meant growth for the Public sector, in both metro and regional areas. 

Reflecting the quarterly growth nationally, most industries recorded rising job ad volumes for the first quarter of 2025, with notable increases in demand for Information & Communication Technology (5%), Administration & Office Support (4%) and Sales (4%) workers. 

Applications per job ad increased 14% m/m in Retail & Consumer Products, 6% in Sales and 4% in Accounting, among many other industries. 

Figure 5: National SEEK Job Ad percentage change by industry (March 2025 vs February 2025) – Ordered by job ad volume

The data for this report can be downloaded here. 

ABOUT THE SEEK NZ EMPLOYMENT REPORT

The SEEK Employment Report provides a comprehensive overview of the New Zealand employment marketplace. The report includes the SEEK New Job Ad Index, which measures only new job ads posted within the reported month to provide a clean measure of demand for labour across all classifications. SEEK’s total job ad volume (not disclosed in this report) includes duplicated job advertisements and refreshed job ads. As a result, the SEEK New Job Ad Index does not always match the movement in SEEK’s total job ad volume.

NOTES

(1) The SEI may differ to the job ad count on SEEK’s website due to a number of factors including: a) seasonal adjustments applied to the SEI; b) the exclusion of duplicated job ads from the SEI; and c) the exclusion of Company Listings (included under Company Profiles) from the SEI

(2) The Covid-19 pandemic led to a high level of volatility in labour market data between April 2020 and March 2022. As a result, caution is recommended when interpreting trend estimates during this period as large month-to-month changes in variables generated multiple trend breaks

(3) The applications per ad index contains a series break at Jan 2016 when the calculation of this series changed from using gross variables (inclusive of all SEEK job listings) to net variables (removing duplicate job listings). This change has a negligible impact on recent data points, but caution is recommended when interpreting data immediately following the series break, and particularly in 2016 where growth rates have not been adjusted for the series break.

DISCLAIMER

The Data should be viewed and regarded as standalone information and should not be aggregated with any other information whether such information has been previously provided by SEEK Limited, ("SEEK"). The Data is given in summary form and whilst care has been taken in its preparation, SEEK makes no representations whatsoever about its completeness or accuracy. SEEK expressly bears no responsibility or liability for any reliance placed by you on the Data, or from the use of the Data by you.

IMAGE CREDIT: Photo by Thirdman