Christchurch earthquake: Big drop in job vacancies

There has been a 2.9 per cent rise in the number of job applications. Photo / Thinkstock

The number of jobs listed on online job site Seek for the Canterbury region has dropped 8.7 per cent since the earthquake, the company says.

The Seek employment index fell by 1 per cent in February for the first time since September 2010 - that is, the ratio of new job advertisements posted on Seek during a month on the number of applications for those jobs.

Seek general manager Janet Faulding said that although new job advertisements rose 2 per cent in February on January, the decrease in the index arose from a 2.9 per cent rise in the number of job applications.

Despite the dip in the index for February, last month's figures were 19 per cent up on February 2010.

The most sought-after employees in February included civil engineers, government staff, and healthcare and IT consultants.