Job growth unlikely: survey

Job growth is unlikely to have returned in the March quarter, a new survey suggests.

The Westpac McDermott Miller employment confidence index, published yesterday, edged down 0.7 points to 103.6. An index above 100 indicates optimists outnumber pessimists. A net 60 per cent of respondents said jobs were hard to get, up from 59.4 per cent in December, while a net 14.2 per cent said they were earning more than a year ago, down from 15 per cent.

As a result, the current conditions index fell slightly from 77.8 per cent in the December quarter to 77.1 in the March quarter.

Westpac economists Brendan O'Donovan and Donna Purdue said there was little doubt the lingering effects of the 2008/09 recession continued to weigh heavily on the New Zealand labour market.

"By implication, it seems unlikely that jobs growth returned in the March 2010 quarter."

The number of respondents expecting job opportunities to be plentiful in a year fell to a net 14.3 per cent, from the record 16.6 per cent in the December survey.

Perceived job security during the coming year fell, from a net 13.2 per cent in December, to a net 11.6 per cent now, but a net 38.1 per cent expected to be earning more next year, up from a net 36.2 per cent.

- NZPA