Nearly half of employers struggle to fill jobs

Annual survey reveals nearly one in two New Zealand employers struggle to fill jobs

Engineers, Sales Representatives and Skilled Trade roles hardest to fill

New Zealand (29 MAY 2012) – ManpowerGroup today released the results of its seventh annual Talent Shortage Survey, revealing 48% of employers in New Zealand are experiencing difficulty filling key positions within their organisations.

The survey results show that almost half of the employers in New Zealand are finding it difficult to fill job vacancies, up 11 percentage points from last year. The results sit well above the global average of 34 per cent and have moved passed the Asia-Pacific average of 45 per cent. New Zealand is now ranked eighth out of 41 countries for talent shortages.

The jobs employers have most difficulty filling are Engineers, Sales Representatives, and Skilled Trades.

According to Lincoln Crawley, Managing Director of ManpowerGroup Australia and New Zealand, skill shortages are only going to get worse with the Christchurch rebuild set to take off this year.

“The rebuild is going to put a huge amount of pressure on the local labour market, with the estimated need for workers outstripping the available local talent pool.

“The problem is that the skills gaps in New Zealand are very similar to the rest of the world – engineers and skilled tradespeople are in demand everywhere, so competition from the international market is also a factor,” Mr Crawley said.

The difficulty of finding IT staff has also increased - moving up three ranks - as the National Broadband Network is rolled out around the country.

“Employers who continue to struggle with skills shortages may need to review their job criteria and look for a ‘teachable fit’ – that is, candidates who meet most criteria but need further training in other areas; or consider “unbundling” job roles so that highly skilled employees only undertake technical tasks.”

“With fields such as engineering, IT and skilled trades set to boom in the coming years, encouraging local uptake into these industry should be a top focus for policy makers, educators and employers.”

Jobs most in demand in 2011 in
New Zealand Jobs most in demand in 2012 in New Zealand
1. Engineers 1. Engineers
2. Sales Representatives 2. Sales Representatives
3. Technicians 3. Skilled Trades
4. Skilled Trades 4. IT Staff
5. Management Executive (Management/Corporate) 5.Technicians
6. Accounting & Finance staff 6. Accounting & Finance Staff
7. IT Staff 7. Management/Executives (Management/Corporate)
8. Secretaries, Pas, Office Support staff 8. Chefs/Cooks
9. Customer Service representatives & Customer Support 9. Marketing/Public Relations/ Communications Staff
10 Chefs/Cooks 10 Drivers

ManpowerGroup’s Fresh Perspectives Paper, “Break the Crisis and Complacency Cycle: Get Ahead of the Global Talent Shortage,” also released today, makes a number of recommendations for how companies can break out of the complacency that has set in around talent shortages, and plan and execute workforce strategies for future hiring that will allow them to overcome the talent shortage crisis.

“Employers may not think leaving important positions unfilled is a problem now, but they will in years to come, when it will be too late. Access to talent is the key competitive differentiator in the Human Age.

“A successful workforce strategy will identify and solve current talent challenges, anticipate future pressure points and put in place solutions to address them effectively. Human resources leaders have a number of workforce options to consider including: hiring workers who are a teachable fit; using strategic migration; employing flexible workers; and recruiting from underemployed groups such as older workers,” Mr Crawley said.

Globally, employers having the most difficulty finding the right people to fill jobs are those in Japan (81%), Brazil (71%), Bulgaria (51%), Australia (50%), U.S. (49%), India (48%), New Zealand (48%), Taiwan (47%), Panama (47%), Romania (45%), Argentina (45%), Mexico (43%), Germany (42%), Turkey (41%), Peru (41%) and Austria (40%).

Sales Representative positions continue to be the most difficult-to-fill jobs in the Asia Pacific region, followed by Engineers and Technicians. Employers in Japan have had the most difficulty filling positions both regionally and globally, while those in China (23 per cent) report the least difficulty.

Full results of ManpowerGroup’s seventh annual Talent Shortage Survey and the Fresh Perspectives Paper, “Break the Crisis and Complacency Cycle: Get Ahead of the Global Talent Shortage” can be downloaded at www.manpowergroup.com/researchcenter

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