Kiwi Recruitment Agency director Barry Gleeson said jobs were limited in the Wairarapa, but there were always opportunities for good applicants.
"Good people with good attitudes have a better chance of getting jobs," he said.
"There's a good steady flow of jobs coming in, but there's a steady flow of applicants too."
It was too early to tell whether new changes to the welfare system, including drug testing requirements, had had any significant effect on beneficiaries in the Wairarapa, where a large chunk of jobseekers were trying to find labouring or seasonal work, Mr Gleeson said.
But the question of drug testing was not strictly a beneficiary-related problem.
A number of applicants using Kiwi Recruitment to change jobs had also failed drug tests, he said.
There are currently 309,782 people on benefits nationwide, down from 310,146 in the previous quarter and 320,041 a year ago.
"That's a reduction of more than 10,000 on welfare over the past 12 months and I am particularly pleased that 5600 of them are sole parents," Social Development Minister Paula Bennett said.
The numbers coincide with sweeping changes to the social security system which came into force this month which are expected to cut thousands from their benefits.
The changes introduced new benefit categories and expectations, including rules around drug testing, outstanding arrest warrants and new social obligations for parents.
Nationwide, 8000 beneficiaries with arrest warrants outstanding for offences such as unpaid fines will have their benefits halved unless they clear warrants within 38 days.
Those without children will lose their benefits altogether.
Drug-testing of job-seekers is expected to cut benefits for a further 5800 people.
The welfare system overhaul now sees sickness beneficiaries, sole parents and widows with no children aged under 14 face the same requirements to find work as other jobless people.
Welfare advocacy group Auckland Action Against Poverty lashed out at the reforms, predicting they would have a brutal impact on the wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of children and adults dependent on the state for survival.
Spokeswoman Sarah Thompson said the changes were more about pushing vulnerable people off the books than job creation.
The Treasury and the MSD have estimated that the number of beneficiaries could be cut from between 28,000 and 44,000 by 2016-17, saving between $992 million and $1.6 billion.
The Government spends $8 billion a year on welfare benefits.APNZ
