Manpower Employment Outlook Survey

SYDNEY, June 9/Medianet International-AsiaNet/ --

Manpower Employment Outlook Survey

Under embargo until 00:01, (GMT), 9 June 2009

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey released today reveals the pace of hiring is set to increase slightly into the third quarter of 2009.

The Manpower survey of 868 employers throughout New Zealand, indicates hiring intentions for the next three months have improved slightly quarter-over-quarter, with a three percentage point increase in the Outlook. However, the year-over-year comparison indicates that employer hiring plans are considerably weaker: the Outlook has declined by 18 percentage points.

``Hiring intentions in New Zealand continues to be sluggish and all three regions have continued to fall in the last three months; however, there is some good news with the majority of employers – 69 percent – indicating they will make no reductions to their current headcount,’’ said Lincoln Crawley, Managing Director, Manpower Australia and New Zealand.

Employers in each of the three regions forecast a struggling labour market for the upcoming quarter. The weakest Net Employment Outlook of -9% is reported by Wellington employers, but employer sentiment is similarly weak in Christchurch, where the Outlook is -8%. In Auckland, too, the Outlook is a disappointing -6%.

From an industry perspective, employers in the Transportation & Utilities (+4%) industry sector report the most optimistic hiring expectations. The Outlook is relatively stable quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year. Conversely, job seekers can expect the least optimistic hiring activity in the Manufacturing (-10%) industry sector. However, although the forecast is a considerable 24 percentage points weaker year-over-year, sector employers are considerably more optimistic than in the second quarter and report a quarter-over-quarter improvement of 10 percentage points.

``There is a marginal improvement in the Net Employment Outlook as we head into the third quarter of 2009 with the Transportation & Utilities industry as the stand-out with the most positive hiring activity. These results seem to be indicative of a stabilising labour market as employers continue to be surgical in their approach to hiring and retaining key staff members to prepare for the upswing in the economy,’’ Crawley said.

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