KEY POINTS:
Finding a job is getting harder, but a new survey has still found more employers expecting to increase headcount than to reduce staff numbers.
The Manpower employment outlook survey for the three months from July to September, published today, found 23 per cent of the 893 employers taking part expected to increase staff while 11 per cent expected to reduce numbers.
That gave a net employment outlook - the number of employers expecting a decrease subtracted from the number expecting an increase - of +12 per cent.
Taking seasonal variations into account the employment outlook was +16 per cent, Manpower said.
Employers were more cautious in their predictions than at any point since the survey started in the second quarter of 2004.
Seasonally adjusted, the employment outlook was down just 3 percentage points from the April to June quarter and down 12 percentage points from a year earlier.
Unadjusted, it was down 12 percentage points from the previous quarter.
Manpower New Zealand general manager Catherine Lo-Giacco said the decline in the net employment outlook was in line with a fall in business confidence and consumer spending.
"The decrease in hiring intentions compared to the previous quarter appears to show that hiring managers are hesitant to move forward and take on new staff over the next quarter," she said.
There was a general decrease in hiring confidence, with more employers hesitant to take on staff during the next three months.
The fall in demand was most evident in Auckland, where the outlook was down by 10 percentage points from the June quarter, although there was still cautious optimism with an adjusted outlook of +10 per cent.
Employers in all but one of the industry sectors had seen a decline in demand, particularly in the finance, insurance and real estate sector, and transportation and utilities sector, both of which were experiencing levels not seen since survey started in 2004.
- NZPA
