Economy boosts job growth

Talent ID Recruitment director Kellie Hamlett said the Rotorua job market has been buoyant since the last quarter of 2014. Photo / File

A strong local economy is driving job growth in the region, a Rotorua recruitment specialist says.

According to Seek New Zealand data, there were 20 per cent more Bay of Plenty job advertisements on the site in February, compared with February 2014.

This follows on from a 12 per cent year-on-year increase in job listings in January.

Talent ID Recruitment director Kellie Hamlett said the Rotorua job market had been buoyant since the last quarter of 2014.

"There's movement within existing roles and new roles being created which is good to see," she said.

"A few of the new roles have come from businesses relocating to the region but most have been from existing businesses growing.

"They're all positive signs of a strong economy in Rotorua."

The growth wasn't limited to just one sector. "I don't know that it's necessarily happening in one sector in particular," Ms Hamlett said. "The growth seems to be across the board."

Ms Hamlett expected to continue to be busy in the next couple of months.

"Winter is always our busy time. For a lot of businesses, winter comes just after the start of their financial year so they start looking to recruit more staff then."

Newly released Statistics New Zealand data showed 31,494 Rotorua residents were in the labour force at the 2013 Census. This was a slight decrease from the 2006 Census but an increase on 2001.

Nationally, new job ads were up 3.7 per cent year-on-year but down 2.8 per cent on January.

Seek New Zealand general manager Janet Faulding said growing economic confidence had pushed year-on-year listings up.

"Factors such as falling fixed mortgage rates and higher property prices are all contributing to optimism in the local economy," she said.

"The high-performing housing markets of Auckland and Canterbury continue to have a positive impact on labour demand as both centres respond to housing demand.

"In addition, increased migration and high labour force participation have been driving growth in labour supply, another indicator of rising confidence in the local employment market."

The education and training industry had the biggest increase in listings - up 18 per cent on February 2014.

Early childhood listings were up 43 per cent, primary teaching listings were up 150 per cent and secondary teaching listings were up 65 per cent.

Ms Faulding said the education advertisement growth was most significant in Wellington and Auckland, while Canterbury's employment in the education sector was still affected by the closure of many schools post-earthquakes.

Statistics New Zealand analysis of the 2013 Census showed more people aged over 65 were working full-time.