Seek NZ Employment Report - June

*Applications per job ad are recorded with a one-month lag and data shown in this report refers to May data.

NATIONAL INSIGHTS

Declining since February, ad volumes fell 8% in June and are 35% lower y/y.

Aside from Southland, all regions contributed to the national decline, led by Auckland (-8%), Wellington (-9%) and Canterbury (-7%).

Worker demand in the Consumer Services sector has fallen to the greatest extent, down 13% m/m.

The rise in applications per job ad has slowed over the past quarter, and rose just 1% m/m, but it remains an extremely competitive market among candidates.

Figure 1: National SEEK job ad percentage change m/m June 2023 to June 2024

Table 1: National and regional job ad growth/decline comparing June 2024 to: i) May 2024 (m/m) and ii) June 2023 (y/y)

REGION INSIGHTS

Southland was the only region where ad volumes increased in June, mainly due to a rise in Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics roles, though as a small region, this is off a small base.

Southland has also been the most resilient region over the past year, where volumes have declined 18% y/y, compared to 50% in Marlborough and 46% in Wellington.

Manawatu recorded the greatest monthly decline in June, with job ads falling 16%, followed by Northland which was down 12%.

Applications per job ad rose in only some regions m/m, including in Otago (6%), Canterbury (2%) and Wellington (1%).

Figure 2: Major region job ad trends: June 2020 to June 2024

Figure 3: National SEEK job ad percentage change by region (June 2024 vs May 2024)

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

Most industries recorded a fall in ad volume in June, with significant declines in Retail & Consumer Products (-18%), Trades & Services (-12%) and Healthcare & Medical (-9%).

The Consumer Services sector saw the greatest decline m/m (-13%) whereas some Professional Services industries – Consulting & Strategy (9%) and Banking & Financial Services (2%) – bucked the trend with increasing ad volumes.

Over the past year, Government & Defence ads have dropped by 59% and Construction has halved (-50%).

While applications per job ad have risen for all industries y/y, the industries showing the greatest demand from candidates over the past year have been those within Consumer Services, including Retail & Consumer Products (124%), Call Centre & Customer Service (97%) and Administration & Office Support (92%).

Figure 4: National SEEK Job Ad percentage change by industry (June 2024 vs May 2024) –

Ordered by job ad volume

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