Job advertisements grow in year to October, construction demand soars

Business Reporter·NZ Herald·

22 Nov, 2016 05:10 PM2 mins to read

Job ads in Waikato rose more than 17 per cent in the year to October. Photo / 123RF

Job advertisements on Seek rose 9.9 per cent in the year to October, with the Waikato job market said to be thriving.

Construction and the building sector saw the greatest increase in monthly job ads, followed by the engineering and mining and energy resources sectors.

Seek New Zealand general manager Janet Faulding said Waikato's thriving job market contributed to a boost in national advertising growth.

"Advertising across the Waikato region on SEEK has grown 17.1 per cent year on year this October with job ad growth coming from a broad range of industries in the region," Faulding said.

"The building boom across Waikato is helping drive trades & services job ad growth. Electricians, building trades and labourers are in the strongest demand."

In Waikato, trade and services industries had the greatest number of new job ads in October, followed by manufacturing, transport and logistics, healthcare and medical, administration and office support and sales.

Overall job market

New Zealand's overall job market had mixed results within major regions in October.

Wellington enjoyed solid growth, with Seek job ads up 15.4 per cent.

Faulding said Wellington's uplift in ads was driven by advertisers in information and communication technology, administration and office support, trade and services and Government and defence posts.

"Auckland advertising on SEEK rose 11.2 per cent year on year this October, with the greatest number of employment opportunities coming from ICT (up 5 per cent), manufacturing, transport & logistics (up 15 per cent), accounting (up 7 per cent) and trades & services (up 32 per cent)," Faulding said.

"While Canterbury remained the weakest major New Zealand labour market this October, with job ads on SEEK down 3.1 per cent. Trades & services, construction and engineering were the highest advertisers for the Canterbury region this October."

Faulding said last week's earthquakes and flooding were likely to have an impact on the demand of certain roles to support the clean-up and rebuild.