SEEK Employment Report - MAY
NOTE: This report includes the seasonally adjusted data as well as the trend data. Where not otherwise specified, the commentary, figures and tables in this report refer to the seasonally adjusted data. See notes 2 and 3 on p. 7 for more information about the difference between the two data sets.
*Applications per job ad are recorded with a one-month lag. Data shown in this report refers to April data.
National Insights:
Job ads fell 2% m/m, seasonally adjusted, and are 8% lower y/y.
This is the slowest the decline in job ad volume has been in over two years.
The trend data shows that ad volumes have remained steady and unchanged since October.
Region Insights:
Three regions recorded a rise in ad volumes in May: Taranaki (6%), Wellington (2%) and Southland (1%).
Wellington has been following a broad trajectory of growth for the past eleven months, and is one of only three regions where job ads have risen y/y (2%).
Industry Insights:
A 14% drop in Information & Communication Technology ad volumes drove the overall decline in May.
The largest m/m rises were recorded in the smaller industries of Consulting & Strategy (29%) and Science & Technology (10%).
Rob Clark, SEEK NZ Country Manager, says:
“The trend data tells a clear picture and that is one of flat ad volumes for the past eight months. After close to two years of near uninterrupted decline between 2022 and 2024, this shows that volumes have stabilised and are even beginning to see some pockets of growth.
“Wellington, which was particularly impacted by falling demand toward the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, has recorded broad growth in ad volumes over the past eleven months. It was one of only three regions where job ads rose month-on-month, along with Southland and Taranaki.
“While the decline in demand for workers has slowed, candidate appetite has not abated in the same way, rising to the highest on record again this month.”
National Trends
Job ads fell 2% in May, seasonally adjusted, following two months of growth. Job ads are now 8% lower y/y which is the slowest rate of decline since November 2022, indicating a moderation of the steep declines of the past two years.
Applications per job ad have peaked again, rising 2% m/m, making for an extremely high level of competition among candidates for the job ads on offer.
Figure 1: National SEEK job ad percentage change m/m (May 2024 to May 2025)
Figure 2: National SEEK job ad change over time – May 2021 to May 2025. Index = 100 (2013 average)
Region Trends
Three regions recorded monthly job ad growth in May: Taranaki (6%), Wellington (2%) and Southland (1%).
Wellington is the only one of the larger regions where job ads have grown y/y (2%), the first annual rise in two-and-a-half years.
Marlborough recorded the largest monthly decline in ad volume, dropping 16%. After jumping 22% in March, the region has experienced a correction over the past two months dropping 23% throughout April and May. There was also notable m/m job ad decline in Otago (-6%), Manawatu (-5%) and Auckland (-4%).
After candidate activity dropped nearly across the board in March, it rebounded in most regions in April, particularly in Canterbury (13% m/m) and in Otago (7% m/m).
Figure 3: National SEEK job ad change by major region - May 2021 to May 2025. Index = 100 (2013 average)
Figure 4: National SEEK job ad percentage change by region (May 2025 vs April 2025)
Industry Trends
There were small pockets of growth in the Public Service and Professional Services sectors in May.
Healthcare & Medical and Community Services & Development were the largest industries to record job ad growth in May, rising 3% and 2% respectively m/m.
The largest rises were in some of the smaller industries, notably in Consulting & Strategy, which surged 29% m/m, and Science & Technology, which grew 10% m/m.
Most other industries recorded a m/m decline, including Information & Communication Technology which dropped 14%, after rising 10% the month prior.
After experiencing growth in April, consumer-facing industries that were standout performers in April have moderated in May, including Retail & Consumer Products (-8% m/m), Sales (-8% m/m) and Call Centre & Customer Service (-9% m/m).
Quarterly ad volume rises illuminates further pockets of growth in the Public, Professional Services and Construction sectors, with notable quarter-on-quarter increases in Education & Training (11%), Human Resources & Recruitment (5%) and Trades & Services (2%) among others.
Figure 5: National SEEK Job Ad percentage change by industry (May 2025 vs April 2025) – Ordered by job ad volume
ENDS
Banner image photo by Vladimir Srajber.
About the SEEK Employment Report
The SEEK Employment Report is Australia’s leading employment index and provides a comprehensive overview of the Australian Employment Marketplace. The report includes the SEEK Employment Index (SEI) which measures only new job ads posted within the reported month to provide a clean measure of demand for labour across all classifications.
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) Seasonally Adjusted figures remove regular calendar-related patterns from the data (e.g. Christmas holiday period). The seasonal adjustment is applied by a statistical model widely used by official statisticians. This helps show month-to-month changes without seasonal distortions.
(3) Trend figures go a step further by applying a weighted moving average to the seasonal adjusted figures (using a 13-term Henderson moving average) to smooth out short term fluctuations and noise. The trend numbers help identify the longer-term direction by filtering out both seasonal effects and short-term volatility.
(4) Caution is recommended when interpreting month-to-month changes in variables generated multiple trend breaks. trend estimates during the COVID period as large month-to-month changes in variables generated multiple trend breaks.
(5) 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 rates have not been adjusted for the series break.