Growth in Wairarapa job diversity

Job listings are up in Wairarapa. PHOTO/FILE

Trade Me Job listings are up more than 20 per cent in Wairarapa and a recruitment representative says plenty of Wairarapa people would like to give up the commute to Wellington for a job closer to home.

Listings were up 23.7 per cent in the final quarter of 2015 compared to the same time the previous year, according to Trade Me. Applications per job were unchanged.

Drake client relationship manager Ali Williams said Drake had increased its local offerings in the past year. It used to provide mainly industrial temps but now delivered help to some more corporate organisations in and around the Wairarapa.

Ms Williams said there would always be plenty of jobseekers in the corporate market because many Wairarapa-based candidates were forced to travel to Wellington for work but would prefer to work locally.

So when a $50,000-plus role became available in the Wairarapa, there were usually plenty of quality candidates to choose from.

The salary might be a bit below their expectations.

"However, when weighed up against travel costs and time spent travelling, generally the salary gap becomes easier to swallow," said Ms Williams.

There were a greater variety of roles available now than 12 months ago, she said.

Certain trade sectors such as diesel mechanics struggled nationally to find good candidates. Ms Williams said Wairarapa had a large pool of industrial temps and factory workers, but finding reliable and drug-free candidates in this sector was always a challenge.

Trade Me Jobs head Peter Osborne said job listings were up 2.2 per cent nationally last quarter.

He said job advertising had slowed overall compared to the "giddy heights" of early last year and the year prior.

"The clearest indicator that the market has moved in favour of employers has been the huge increase in job applications we're now seeing on Trade Me Jobs," Mr Osborne said.

The increase meant employers should find it easier to fill roles and job hunters would have a tougher time landing a job.

Otago experienced the biggest increase in listings last quarter at 19.7 per cent.

Nelson/Tasman, Marlborough, Hawke's Bay and Auckland also all experienced double digit growth.

Canterbury and the West Coast experienced the biggest reduction in listings with 11.5 per cent and 19.9 per cent drops respectively, said Mr Osborne.

While the IT sector dominated the highest paid statistics, taking out all of the top 10 positions, competition for those roles had jumped with applications up 8 per cent.

Applicants in the customer service and education sectors had greater choice with growth in listings of 24.3 and 17.2 per cent respectively.

Mr Osborne said there were indications 2016 was shaping up to favour employers more than job hunters, with Auckland being the major exception with its continued growth and demand for workers.

Mr Osborne predicted the "dizzying" surge in job advertising in the construction and trades sectors of recent years should settle into a more sustainable level of demand.

Large infrastructure programmes and the growth of Auckland was likely to continue as the super city expanded.