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Booming Job Market

Booming Job Market

Posted on 10th January 2015 by Russell Phillips

Job

The jobs market is booming, especially in Auckland, according to Trade Me the online auction and listings company. The site reported a 14 percent rise in vacancies advertised during the last three months of 2014 and it expected growth to continue at a similar level for the foreseeable future.

The official unemployment rate as reported by Statistics New Zealand fell to 5.6 percent at the end of September from 6.2 percent a year earlier. The Treasury forecast in December that the unemployment rate would continue descending, dropping to 4.5 percent by 2018.

Vacancies in Auckland rose 20 percent, year-on-year, between October and December, the company said, with listings in Canterbury up 10 percent and Wellington up 8 percent.

There was also strong demand in most other regions with job listings in the Bay of Plenty up 26 percent, Manawatu and Whanganui up 13 percent and Otago up 10 percent. The only blackspots were the West Coast, where listings fell 11 percent and Taranaki where they dropped 10 percent.

“Industrial sectors like automotive, construction, manufacturing, operations and the trades are all surging, and we’ve seen a lot more job opportunities created. With New Zealand being in good economic health, retail jobs were also up, and these factors have collectively helped to create a very buoyant job market.”

Listings for information technology staff continued their “meteoric rise”, climbing 11.6 percent last year. Vacancies for “executives and general managers” leapt 84 percent and there was a 38 percent rise in listings for construction workers and architects during the final quarter of last year.
However, listings for government and council jobs fell by a third and there was a 10 percent drop in listings for roles in the banking and insurance sectors.

​Osborne forecast the jobs market would achieve double-digit percentage growth “well into 2015″, driven in part by a construction boom in Auckland and Christchurch.”Many of our advertisers have found it difficult to source talent and fill roles,” he said.