Northland shrinks job gap

Northland still has the country's highest unemployment level at 9.3 per cent, 40 per cent higher than the national annual average of 6.7 per cent Photo / Ben Fraser

In a mixed bag of good and bad, the latest quarterly statistics indicate Northland's job market still lags behind the rest of the country but is dropping more slowly and wages have risen.

Possibly surprising for workers whose wage rise - if they got one - was less than the annual rate of inflation, Trade Me Jobs figures based on the vacancies advertised indicate Northland's median weekly salary/wage jumped to $758 in the year ending in June; or a 9.4 per cent increase.

Northland still has the country's highest unemployment level at 9.3 per cent, 40 per cent higher than the national annual average of 6.7 per cent but slightly down from the five-year high of 9.9 per cent recorded in March.

While that sounds bad, for the first time since March 2012 the rate at which Northland is losing jobs is slower than the national rate.

"Trade Me Jobs July-September data shows the number of Northland listings fell 1.4 per cent from the previous quarter.

Northland Regional Council economist Darryl Jones said he would not place much importance on the slight drop in advertised jobs as it might be very few jobs in reality. Regions around New Zealand tended to show slumps at certain times of the year, often linked to seasonal work, he said.

"There has been a slight fall between [the] September [quarter] and the previous quarter but it's quite the norm to have that happen in Northland at this time of the year," Mr Jones said.

"Even with the seasonal fall the number of available jobs in the region is 60 per cent higher than four years ago. We have certainly seen a slow upward trend and that's a really positive thing."

Trade Me spokesman Peter Osborne also said the change is nothing to get excited about.

The minuscule "drop" in vacancies might equate to only one or two job advertisement; the "rise" in wages might mean one or two $70,000-plus positions were filled or were created.