Teaching jobs on the rise

Kirsten White from The Village Daycare Bethlehem. Teaching jobs across the country are up nearly 20 per cent year-on-year.

Teachers looking for a job should head to Wellington, according to Seek's latest Labour Market Report.

New job ads in the Education and Training industry were up 18 per cent year-on-year to February 2015 - driven by a 45 per cent increase in new job ads in Wellington and a 17 per cent increase in Auckland.

However, the situation was starkly different in Canterbury, which saw a 9 per cent drop in teaching roles over the same period.

Seek's New Zealand general manager Janet Faulding said Canterbury's education sector had gone through significant changes as schools had been consolidated and restructured in response to the closure of many schools post-earthquakes.

"What we're seeing is the clear impact of this on employment opportunities in the area," she said.

"We know the Government has a ten year plan to restore, remodel and rebuild schools in the greater Christchurch area.

"The first schools under the plan began reopening in 2014 with more slated for the year ahead.

"We expect the number of education roles in the region to increase in line with the re-establishment of more education centres," Faulding said.

Faulding noted that the strong growth in demand for both primary and secondary teaching roles had seen them become some of the most difficult roles to fill in the industry.

Overall, the labour market was currently in better shape than at the same time last year, with new job ads up 3.7 per cent in the year to February, despite dropping 2.8 per cent from January.

Across all sectors, Auckland saw the biggest increase in job listings over the past year, with job listings rising 9 per cent year-on-year to February.

Canterbury saw a modest increase of 2 per cent, with growth in the region slowing following large gains over the last 18 months.

Job listings in Wellington also saw a decrease - dropping 9 per cent year-on-year.

The Wellington job market saw a month-on-month increase of 4 per cent in new job ads in January, which was then offset by a 9 per cent decline in the month to February.

"The Capital's employment market experienced a number of fluctuations in 2014 so it is hard to say if the recorded decline in jobs ads is a sign of things to come or simply a result of a slow start to 2015," Faulding said.