SEEK NZ Employment Report - job ads rise to start 2023

Rob Clark, SEEK NZ Country Manager says:

“After four months of decline, there was a slight uplift in job ad volumes in January as businesses resumed hiring activity to kick-off the new year. Hospitality & Tourism saw significant uplift in job ads posted in January and applications per job ad for roles in the industry rose by a third in December.

“Holistically, candidate interest continues to grow, with visitation to seek.co.nz rising in January and applications per job ad almost doubling year-on-year.

“Compared to January last year, when we were moving toward record-level demand for workers, we are seeing a much more balanced employment market, with strong job ads, and candidate activity.”

^{*The North Island floods in January happened too close to the end of the month to be evident in the data in this report. SEEK expects the data in upcoming reports to reflect the impact.}

SEEK is committed to supporting impacted clients and partners at this time and encourages them to get in contact if SEEK can be of help.

NATIONAL INSIGHTS

Job ads rose for the first time since August, up 2% m/m, but levels are 13% lower than January 2022.

Applications per job ad grew by 19%, the greatest monthly increase since mid-2020. Applications per job ad have now been on the rise for eleven consecutive months and are 14% higher than they were in December 2019.  

Figure 1: National SEEK job ad percentage change m/m January 2023 to January 2022

Table 2: National and regional job ad growth/decline comparing January 2023 to: i) December 2022 (m/m) and ii) January 2022 (y/y).

REGION INSIGHTS

Applications per job ad rose in every region but West Coast, where there was no change.

Job ads grew in the cities and largest regions, including Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury all rising 4% m/m and Waikato growing 3%. Taranaki recorded the greatest monthly decline, falling 10%.

All regions but West Coast and Auckland have recorded job ad levels higher than January 2019, some of them significantly so, such as Manawatu which has grown 75%, Hawkes Bay up 61% and Southland which has increased 56% since pre-pandemic.

Figure 2: Major region job ad volumes – January 2019 to January 2023

Figure 3: National SEEK job ad percentage change by region (January 2023 vs December 2022).

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

The national rise in job ads in January was driven by an increase in hiring for Hospitality & Tourism roles and Accounting roles, with job ads rising 13% in both industries.

There was a significant jump in applications per ad in December in the largest hiring industry, Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics, where it grew 41%. Hospitality & Tourism applications per job ad also rose 36% m/m. Applications per job ad rose in all but three industries.

Applications per job ad for Healthcare & Medical jobs rose 9% in January, returning to near-peak levels, with Aged Care Nursing roles rising 5% in December.  

Figure 4: National SEEK job ad percentage change by industry (January 2023 vs December 2022) – Ordered by job ad volume

Click for the latest SEEK Employment data or for more employment insights or career advice please visit SEEK’s Hiring Advice or SEEK's Career Advice.

MEDIA NOTE: When reporting SEEK NZ data, we request that you attribute SEEK NZ as the source and refer to SEEK NZ as an employment marketplace.

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.

About SEEK NZ

SEEK is a market leader in online employment marketplaces that span ten countries across Asia Pacific and Latin America. SEEK invests heavily to create innovative technology products to help people live more fulfilling and productive working lives and help organisations succeed.

In 2022, SEEK was recognised as the overall winner of the AFR BOSS Best Places to Work awards and also won the award for the Best Place to Work in the Technology Industry.

About the SEEK New Zealand 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.