SEEK NZ Employment Report - January
*Applications per job ad are recorded with a one-month lag. Data shown in this report refers to December data.
Rob Clark, SEEK NZ Country Manager says:
“After six months of consistently falling job ads in the early half of 2024, the rate of decline in the past six months has slowed. While it was pleasing to see growth in January, it is a bit too early to say that volumes have stabilised.
“There have been smaller fluctuations month-on-month during the past half-year and pockets of broad growth in some of the larger regions in recent months, such as Wellington and Otago. In Otago in particular, rising demand for Hospitality & Tourism workers has driven growth for the past few months.
“It is good to see hiring activity rising, particularly in the hard-hit smaller regions. We do expect more optimism among hirers at the start of the year, and this month’s numbers may be more a sign of a return to business after the summer break, than a longer term trend.”
National Trends
Ad volumes rose 4% in January, the largest increase since July. This was driven by growth in all of the largest regions, and in most industries. The only industries which did not record growth in January were Legal (-17%), Insurance & Superannuation (-16%) and Accounting (-3%).
The rate of decline in ad volumes recorded over the past four years has slowed over the last six months, with job ads now just 17% lower y/y.
After falling in November, applications per job ad rose 2% in December, and are 26% higher y/y. Though the rate of growth has decreased significantly over the past year, competition remains extremely fierce for the job opportunities available.
Region Trends
Aside from Taranaki, where volumes fell 11% m/m, all regions recorded job ad growth in January.
The largest jumps in ad volume in January were in the smaller regions of Tasman (18%) and Marlborough (12%), however Auckland (5%) and Canterbury (7%) were the largest contributors to the overall increase in ad volumes for the month.
In Otago, job ads jumped 8% m/m, and are now only 1% lower y/y, due to some notable growth occurring over the past four months, particularly in Hospitality & Tourism.
Wellington, where ads broadly fell for the first half of 2024, has experienced more growth than decline since July, and rose 3% in January.
Applications per job ad rose in all of the largest regions m/m, but declined in Bay of Plenty, and Manawatu, among others.
Industry Trends
The rise in ad volumes in January was led by increasing demand for Public Sector workers, particularly within Education & Training (18%), Government & Defence (9%) and Healthcare & Medical roles (5%).
Consumer Services roles also supported the monthly increase in job ads, with Call Centre & Customer Service (31%) and Retail & Consumer Products (18%) recording significant rises in ad volumes m/m.
The only decline was recorded in the Professional Services sector, specifically in Legal (-17%), Insurance & Superannuation (-16%) and Accounting (-3%).
Only three industries have recorded a rise in job ads y/y albeit off a low base: Banking & Financial Services (18%), Mining Resources & Energy (16%) and Government & Defence (2%).
Applications per ad grew the most for Education & Training roles (18%), Call Centre & Customer Service (14%) and Construction roles (12%) m/m.
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 Alfred Franz.