KEY POINTS:
A shortage of candidates with specialist skills is pushing employers to offer bigger salaries, results from the latest Hays Quarterly Report released to the Herald on Sunday show.
Jason Walker, managing director of Hays in New Zealand, says employers are now more willing to negotiate conditions.
Candidates are aware of their market worth and are negotiating to obtain the best possible salary and overall package, he says.
Many employees are electing to remain in their role rather than take a pay cut for the promise of career progression with a new company.
The survey comes on the heels of last week's Household Labour Force Survey, which shocked markets with a 1.2 per cent increase in job numbers, equivalent to 26,000 jobs created in the June quarter.
More people looking for work meant the unemployment rate rose from 3.7 to 3.9 per cent in the quarter. The Reserve Bank is forecasting it will peak at 6 per cent.
The rise in unemployment was heavily concentrated in the Auckland region, and Westpac economists put this down to urban areas being hit hardest by falling house prices. Many rural areas are experiencing an unprecedented boom, thanks to high commodity prices.
"New Zealand could end up with thousands of people languishing unemployed in cities when rural employers are crying out for workers - to some extent, this is already the case," says Westpac chief economist Brendan O'Donovan.
Walker says unemployment is skewed towards the retail, residential and financial services sectors, while others remain buoyant.
The Hays report reveals recruitment activity has fallen across residential construction and mortgage lending, but remains positive across hot spot areas where the demand for skills is strongest. Commercial litigation lawyers are the main hot spot, followed by management accountants and financial analysts with an NZCA qualification.
Vacancies will be created over the next quarter in credit control, payroll and accounts payable as businesses of all sizes strengthen their finance function, Walker says.
WHAT'S IN DEMAND
* Accountancy: Managers and group accountants, newly qualified financial accountants with two years' experience.
* Banking: Senior business bankers and relationship managers. Financial institutions need investment bankers.
* Construction: Intermediate draftspeople, project managers, architects, and mechanical and electrical engineers.
* IT: High-level infrastructure support, engineering specialists, test analysts and managers, and applications support.
* Insurance: Senior underwriters, account managers, brokers and business development managers, and specialist technical and risk consultants.
* Lawyers: Senior corporate and commercial, intermediate finance, and IT.
