Robbie Winterson, who runs Go Fox Plumbing and Electrical in Putāruru inthe South Waikato, said he faced a battle every time he tries to hire new plumbers in his business.
“You just don’t get people applying,” he said.
But the problem isn’t limited to the plumbing industry.
Rob Clark, Seek NZ country manager, said technical trade roles and other specialist jobs were harder to fill regardless of their high salaries or the state of the market.
“Technical trade roles, like plumbers and electricians are good examples, as are more specialist roles like drainlayers and diesel mechanics,” he said.
“Despite paying well, these roles are often especially hard to fill, particularly outside of the major metro regions.”
According to Seek, the average salary for a diesel mechanic is $95,000, while electricians and plumbers can command $90,000 and $77,500 on average respectively.
However, it was also a candidate-rich market at the moment, Clark said.
“[That means] the biggest problem for many hirers is fielding a large number of applications for their open roles.
“Most jobs within trades and services industry are recording extremely elevated levels of applications per job ad, compared to pre-Covid.”
For example, applications per job ad are 17% higher year on year for electricians and over three times as high as pre-Covid levels, Clark said.
“Plumbers, as another example, have 3% more applications per job ad year on year and almost four times as high as pre-Covid levels,” Clark said.
“That being said, we do know that there are some roles that are always particularly hard to fill, regardless of the state of the market.”
Seek NZ country manager Rob Clark.
David Trollope, managing director at recruitment specialists Hays New Zealand, said skill shortages also played a role in the difficulty of filling some high-paying roles.
These included data engineers, chartered structural engineers, drainlayers and financial controllers, he said.
“In the tech sector, data engineers command average salaries of $135k. The rapid growth of the technology industry has outpaced the supply of skilled data engineers, making these positions hard to fill,” Trollope said.
He said chartered structural engineers were “highly sought-after due to a severe skills shortage, particularly outside major centres” and had an average salary exceeding $140,000.
Meanwhile, financial controllers earned an average of $150-200k. However, a scarcity of qualified candidates with the necessary experience and qualifications made these roles challenging to fill, Trollope said.
“In addition, we are seeing a large number of highly qualified individuals coming through Wellington and Auckland completing MPAs [Master of Professional Accounting] and looking for senior level opportunities but who have no New Zealand experience, which gives the perception of a candidate-rich market but actually when reviewed the volume of individuals with the right profiles is very low,” he said.
“These shortages highlight the need for targeted training programmes and potential immigration solutions to address the gaps in these high-paying sectors,” Trollope said.
Winterson’s plumbing plight isn’t the first time an employer has struggled to fill a high-paying role.
In 2016, a doctor in the Waikato town of Tokoroa told the Herald he hadn’t received a single application in four months for a permanent role with a $400,000 salary at his practice. He even said he would throw in half of his practice for free to sweeten the deal.
And in 2019, it took seven months – and made global headlines around the world – to fill a $150,000 tourism role at Forgotten World Adventures in the King Country.
Cameron Smith is an Auckland-based journalist with the Herald business team. He joined the Herald in 2015 and has covered business and sports. He reports on topics including retail, small business, the workplace and macroeconomics.
