SEEK NZ Employment Report - February
- Job ads declined 3% in February and are now 15% lower than February 2019.
- Applications per job ad continue to rise, up 3% from December to January*.
- A 24% drop in ad volume in Manawatu led the national decline in February.
- When compared to pre-COVID, the cities have recorded the largest fall in hiring activity, whereas most other regions have experienced growth.
- The Construction and Industrial sectors recorded the greatest declines in February, with Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics falling 9% and Construction down 12%.
- Job ads in Healthcare & Medical rose for the second month in a row, up 6% from January.
*Applications per job ad are recorded with a one-month lag. Data shown in this report refers to January data.
NATIONAL INSIGHTS
REGION INSIGHTS
Job ads in most regions fell in February, including in Manawatu which fell 24% in February, after a 21% rise the month prior. Declines in ad volumes in Accounting and Administration & Office Support were responsible for the drop last month.
There was no change to ad volumes in Auckland m/m, whereas single-digit drops in Wellington and Canterbury along with the decline in Manawatu in contributed to the national decline.
When comparing to pre-COVID, it is clear the greatest decline in hiring activity is happening in the major metro regions, with job ad volumes in Wellington, Auckland and Canterbury down 29%, 26% and 10% respectively compared to February 2019. The other regions, including Waikato and Bay of Plenty, are recording job ad volumes higher than pre-COVID.
Applications per job ad increased in most regions, with a 12% jump in Bay of Plenty and a 5% rise for roles in Waikato.
Figure 2: Major region job ad trends: February 2020 to February 2024. Index: 100 = 2013 avg.
Figure 3: National SEEK job ad percentage change by region (February 2024 vs January 2024).
INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
Hiring activity for roles within the Construction and Industrial sectors slowed in February with Trades & Services (-5%), Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics (-9%) and Construction (-12%) all dropping m/m.
Over the past two months job ads in Healthcare & Medical roles have jumped, rising 6% in February and 10% since the start of the year. Hospitality & Tourism and Education & Training were among the other industries to record ad volume increases m/m.
Applications per job ad rose in most industries in January, despite ad volumes also rising that month, with a 40% jump in Consulting & Strategy and 25% more applications per ad in Government & Defence.
Figure 4: National SEEK Job Ad percentage change by industry (February 2024 vs January 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.