SEEK NZ Employment Report - Unseasonably late boost to job ads in November

STATE OF THE NATION: UNSEASONABLY LATE BOOST TO JOB ADS

The latest SEEK New Zealand Employment Report shows job ads increased by 5% when compared to October 2021. Auckland was key in this growth, seeing job ads increase 8% m/m.

Rob Clark, Country Manager, SEEK NZ, comments: “November job ad numbers were up 35% when compared to 12 months ago. As we approach the end of the year, traditionally job ads would peak in October, however most regions have seen a month-on-month increase, notably Auckland as it prepared to emerge from lockdown.

Applications per job ad remain low despite traffic on seek.co.nz remaining stable.

Rob Clark continues: “For the second month running, applications per job ad declined slightly. Compared to November 2019 there are 36% fewer applications per job ad. I wouldn’t expect this to change until the new year as this is not a traditional time of year to change jobs.”

Figure 1: Auckland, Canterbury, Wellington, and NZ job ad growth and decline since November 2019.

Table 1: National and major region job ad growth/decline comparing November 2021 to: i) October 2021 (m/m) ii) November 2020 (y/y) and iii) November 2019 – all regions are listed in the table at the end of this report.

STATE OF THE REGIONS: REGIONS REBOUND AS RESTRICTIONS EASE

Restrictions easing, and the anticipation thereof, saw an increase in job ads across multiple regions, particularly Waikato and Northland where ads increased 8% and 18% m/m respectively.

Auckland, which saw some easing of restrictions in November, grew 8% m/m, which was 12% higher than November 2019, indicating an anticipation of the lockdown lifting and a heightened demand for talent in the country’s most populous region.

Wellington and Canterbury’s job ads increased by 1% and 4% respectively m/m, both are more than 30% higher than two years ago.

Rob Clark continues: “We have seen increasingly faster rates of recovery as regions have emerged from restrictions, led by month-on month growth in job ads.

“With heavy concentrations of jobs in Auckland, particularly in Information & Communication Technologies and customer facing roles, we can expect further growth to be driven from this region in the coming months.”

Figure 2: National SEEK NZ Job Ad percentage change by region (November 2021 vs October 2021)

STATE OF THE INDUSTRIES: AUCKLAND DRIVES INDUSTRY GROWTH

The majority of industries grew from October to November, with the most significant regional contributor being Auckland.

Nationally, the Hospitality & Tourism and Information & Communication Technology industries increased by 45% and 3% respectively in November.  In Auckland alone, the growth was 88% and 7% respectively, with Auckland responsible for over half of all ICT roles.

Rob Clark explains: “Auckland was responsible for a national increase in job ads in some key industries, including Information & Communication Technologies and Hospitality & Tourism.

“Hospitality & Tourism saw an incredible increase of 88% in Auckland and growth of 29% in the rest of New Zealand as businesses continue preparations for a busy holiday period.”

“Other industries showing good growth nationally in November include Trades & Services which is up 9%, Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics with a 16% month-on-month boost, and Healthcare & Medical which jumped 12%.  All have around 2,000 to 3,000 roles available nationally on SEEK right now.”

Table 2: National SEEK NZ Job Ad percentage change by industry in i) Auckland, ii) Rest of New Zealand, iii) Nationally (November 2021 vs October 2021).

Table 3: National and regional job ad growth/decline comparing November 2021 to: i) October 2021 (y/y); ii) November 2020 (m/m) and; iii) November 2019

Figure 3: National SEEK NZ Job Ad percentage change by industry (November 2021 vs October 2021)