KEY POINTS:
New Zealanders are becoming increasingly worried about the job market, although optimists still slightly outnumber pessimists, a new survey shows.
The Westpac McDermott Miller employment confidence index fell 17.2 points in the December quarter to 104, the lowest level in its 16-quarter history.
A reading above 100 indicates more optimists than pessimists, while below 100 pessimists take over.
Westpac senior economist Donna Purdue said that up until now New Zealand households had been insulated from the worst of the economic recession.
Pent up demand for labour had ensured the employment downturn had been relatively mild while earnings growth had remained solid.
But employees were now saying that once plentiful jobs were now hard to come by and would be even scarcer next year, Mrs Purdue said.
"That suggests that the pent-up demand for workers has now been satisfied, and that laid-off workers will find it increasingly difficult to get more work."
The most striking feature of the survey was a sharp u-turn in perceptions of the job market.
A net 25.9 per cent of respondents believe jobs are hard to come by, compared to a net 24.9 per cent who said jobs were plentiful in the September quarter.
Despite those concerns, a net 37.2 per cent of respondents said they were earning more now than a year ago, up from a net 33.3 per cent in September.
A net 37.1 per cent of respondents said they thought their earnings would be higher in a year's time, down from 45.7 per cent last quarter.
The questions on which the employment index is based are part of a wider consumer confidence survey carried out in the first two weeks of December.
All 1559 respondents were asked two questions relating to the employment index, with the 1056 respondents saying they were in paid work asked another three.
- NZPA
