Agency has jobs despite fewer ads

Drake Wairarapa branch manager Leanne Welsh said Drake had more job vacancies than in previous years, having increased its client base. FILE PHOTO

A Wairarapa recruitment agency has vacancies across the board - despite a decline in jobs being advertised throughout the wider Wellington region.

Online skilled-job vacancies were down 9.3 per cent this August on last in the wider Wellington area, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said. This August, vacancies were also down 1 per cent on July.

The ministry's Jobs Online monthly report measures the changes in job vacancies advertised by businesses on three internet job boards - SEEK, Trade Me and the Education Gazette.

Drake Wairarapa branch manager Leanne Welsh said Drake had more job vacancies than in previous years, having increased its client base. It had vacancies across the board, including positions in labouring, trade and administration.

Ms Welsh said the provinces nationwide were crying out for trades workers. Those workers had been pulled away to larger centres such as Christchurch and Auckland. However, people were starting to return to the provinces from those areas as well as from Australia.

She said the Christchurch rebuild was now four to five years along.

"I think there's a feeling that some people have done their dash."

Ms Welsh said there was not much turnover of staff in well-paid jobs in Wairarapa, which could be a double-edged sword.

"Generally speaking, I think that stability within organisations is quite healthy."

Wairarapa also did not have a wealth of big businesses, so many locals commuted to Palmerston North or Wellington to work.

Nationally, online job vacancies were steady in August, the ministry said.

For August, skilled vacancies decreased by 0.1 per cent and total vacancies increased by 0.3 per cent.

The largest increase in skilled vacancies was in the hospitality and tourism industry, while the biggest decrease was in information technology. Skilled vacancies increased for trades workers and technicians but fell for managers and professionals.

In the year to August, the biggest increase in skills vacancies was in the education and training industry.