SEEK Employment Snapshot - key insights

This snapshot complements the SEEK NZ quarterly employment report that is released quarterly. SEEK will publish regular insights based on job ad movements compared to a baseline of April 2020. 

A slowly improving labour market

Janet Faulding, General Manager SEEK NZ comments: “With the lifting of restrictions we have seen an increase in job advertising of 133.9% in the fortnight ended 14 June, compared to the average of the month of April. Our SEEK employment data shows a direct correlation between restrictions easing and job ad volume growth. While we don’t expect to see a return of pre-COVID volumes of jobs advertised for some time yet, early numbers indicate positive signs for New Zealand’s employment market.”

“Large hiring industries such as Trades & Services, Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics and Healthcare & Medical made strong contributions to job ad growth in the last fortnight. We expect to see more opportunities for jobseekers in the coming weeks as businesses look to recommence their operations quickly.”

“There are also some promising signs in the regions, with the majority showing an increase in job ad volumes compared to April. Canterbury (125.7%), Auckland (118.9%) and Wellington (112.2%) showed positive job ad volume growth in the last two weeks.”
 

Figure one: SEEK new job ad for 2020

Where the jobs are

• Trades & Services: roles such as Building Trades, Labourers, Automotive Trades, Electricians and Hair & Beauty Services
• Information & Communication Technology: Developers/ Programmers, Business/ Systems Analysts, Software Engineering, Help Desk & IT Support and Project Management 
• Healthcare & Medical: Psychology, Counselling & Social Work and Nursing (Aged Care and General Medical)
• Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics: Warehousing, Storage & Distribution, Machine Operators and Assembly & Process Work 
• Construction: Project Management, Foreperson/ Supervisors, Plant & Machinery Operators and Surveying
   

How has COVID-19 chanhed the way we work?

SEEK conducts surveys with Kiwis currently employed and those looking for work to understand their position on work and career related subjects.

• Optimism for future employment / job prospects has notably declined over the past few months from 72% in February to 62% in May. (Figure two) 
• People’s sense of job security remains consistent with a small drop since February (71%) and stabilizing at 66% in April and May (Figure three) 
• The number of people that have reported that their working life is very different compared to pre-COVID has dropped from 50% in April to 34% in May (Figure four) 
• The number of Kiwis that have seen a return to a normal working life, or told us that the COVID situation did not impact their working lives at all, has increased from 15% in April to 22% in May (Figure four) 
• 2 in 5 Kiwis are still working from home and more than 1 in 10 have been asked to take annual leave over this period (Figure five) 
   

Figure two: Percentage of people that answered 7/10 higher to the question “in general, how do you feel about your future employment/ job prospects”

Figure three: Percentage of people that answered 7/10 or higher to the question “how secure do you feel your current job is”

Download the Employment Snapshot here