SEEK NZ Employment Report - March

Job ads fell marginally in March, by 0.4% in March.

Applications per job ad remained steady in February, the first time these levels have not risen in five months*. 

 

Most of the large regions recorded an increase, or no change, in job ad volume month-on-month (m/m).

The smaller regions recorded the largest job ad growth in March, with Marlborough and Taranaki both rising 19%.

The Public Sector led the job ad decline in March, with Education & Training, Healthcare & Medical and Government & Defense roles all falling m/m.

Professional Services roles, including Human Resources & Recruitment (15%) and Consulting & Strategy (12%) recorded the largest increases in ad volumes.  

 

*Applications per job ad are recorded with a one-month lag. Data shown in this report refers to February data. 

 

Job ads fell only slightly in March, dropping 0.4% from February. This reflects a notable slowdown in the rate of decline since the beginning of the year, where volumes have dropped just 3.9% quarter-on-quarter – the slowest rate of decline to be recorded in almost twelve months.  

Applications per job ad did not rise, as has been the trend for the past five months, but recorded no change from January.

 

 

 

 

Aside from Auckland, where jobs ad volumes declined 3% from February, most of the large regions recorded an increase, or no change, in March.

The urban centres lagged behind the smaller regions for job ad growth. This was particularly the case in the Industrial and Construction sectors, where volumes rose 7% and 6% respectively in regional areas.

 

Marlborough and Taranaki recorded the largest jumps in ad volume m/m, both rising 19%, while Canterbury and Otago each increased 4%.

Applications per job ad increased in six of the 15 regions, including 10% in both Tasman and Manawatu.

Figure 2: Major region job ad trends: March 2020 to March 2024.Index: 100 = 2013 avg

Figure 3: National SEEK job ad percentage change by region (March 2024 vs February 2024).

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

A reduction in Public Sector job ads drove the overall decline in ad volume in March with Healthcare & Medical (-5%) and Education & Training (-12%) falling m/m. Community Services & Development was the only industry in the sector to record a rise in job ads, increasing 4% from February.

Professional Services roles recorded some of the largest growth, with Human Resources & Recruitment up 15%, Consulting & Strategy rising 12% and ads within Legal increasing 10% m/m.

Applications per job ad rose considerably for Retail & Consumer Products roles, rising 12% from an already elevated base. There was minimal change to application levels for the biggest industries such as Trades & Services (1%), Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics (1%) and Healthcare & Medical (-2%).  

Figure 4: National SEEK Job Ad percentage change by industry (March 2024 vs February 2024) – Ordered by job ad volume.

 

 

Ends

Banner photo by Pavel Danilyuk.

ABOUT THE SEEK NZ EMPLOYMENT REPORT

The SEEK Employment Report provides a comprehensive overview of the New Zealand employment marketplace. The report includes the SEEK New Job Ad Index, which measures only new job ads posted within the reported month to provide a clean measure of demand for labour across all classifications. SEEK’s total job ad volume (not disclosed in this report) includes duplicated job advertisements and refreshed job ads. As a result, the SEEK New Job Ad Index does not always match the movement in SEEK’s total job ad volume.

NOTES

(1) The SEI may differ to the job ad count on SEEK’s website due to a number of factors including: a) seasonal adjustments applied to the SEI; b) the exclusion of duplicated job ads from the SEI; and c) the exclusion of Company Listings (included under Company Profiles) from the SEI

(2) The Covid-19 pandemic led to a high level of volatility in labour market data between April 2020 and March 2022. As a result, caution is recommended when interpreting trend estimates during this period as large month-to-month changes in variables generated multiple trend breaks

(3) The applications per ad index contains a series break at Jan 2016 when the calculation of this series changed from using gross variables (inclusive of all SEEK job listings) to net variables (removing duplicate job listings). This change has a negligible impact on recent data points, but caution is recommended when interpreting data immediately following the series break, and particularly in 2016 where growth rates have not been adjusted for the series break.

DISCLAIMER

The Data should be viewed and regarded as standalone information and should not be aggregated with any other information whether such information has been previously provided by SEEK Limited, ("SEEK"). The Data is given in summary form and whilst care has been taken in its preparation, SEEK makes no representations whatsoever about its completeness or accuracy. SEEK expressly bears no responsibility or liability for any reliance placed by you on the Data, or from the use of the Data by you. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately.