Job Ad Growth in New Zealand Surpasses Australia’s

10th July 2012

Job Ad Growth in New Zealand Surpasses Australia’s

While the mining industry is fuelling employment opportunities in Western Australia, results revealed today highlight stronger growth in new jobs in New Zealand than Australia, with the SEEK New Job Ad Index rising 12% higher locally in the last month.

As Janet Faulding, General Manager of SEEK New Zealand explains, this latest upswing is in part due to signs of stabilising job market conditions in Australia, but also an encouraging indicator of an increasingly positive employment landscape in New Zealand:

“While the ‘Oz exodus’ and stories of Kiwis heading to Australia in search of work have dominated headlines recently, it’s important to note that our local job market is in good shape and that career opportunities at home are increasing, with the SEEK New Job Ad Index now up 8.6% higher than a year ago.”

And more good news for Kiwi jobseekers, the SEEK Employment Index (SEI) rose 3.7% in June and now sits 6% higher than a year earlier. The SEI measures the ratio of new job ads listed on SEEK to applications received for those jobs. This increase shows that the number of new jobs listed on seek.co.nz has grown at a faster rate than applications for those jobs, resulting in more favourable conditions for jobseekers.

“Current job market conditions, as measured by the SEI, mean it may now be easier for those Kiwis contemplating their next career move to find a new job,” says Ms Faulding.

“On the flipside however, with more new jobs than there are applications, there is likely to be higher levels of competition among employers looking to fill roles. Employers will need to work harder to impress and attract the top candidates as jobseekers have the luxury of being more selective with the roles they apply for,” she concludes.

About SEEK
SEEK Limited is the leading online employment and training site in New Zealand. SEEK is a media company using the internet as its distribution channel. SEEK (NZ) Ltd was incorporated in September 1999. SEEK (NZ) Ltd manages www.seek.co.nz, New Zealand’s largest employment website and one of the best known Internet brands. Currently over 16,000 employment vacancies are advertised on seek.co.nz and the site notched up almost 2.8 million visits from jobseekers in May 2012 (Based on Total Market Visits to seek.co.nz (Source: Nielsen Market Intelligence, May 2012) and Visits to m.seek.co.nz (Source: Omniture, May 2012)).

About the SEEK Employment Index
Developed in consultation with Victoria Centre for Strategic Economic Studies at Victoria University, Melbourne, the SEEK Employment Index (SEI) is the first New Zealand aggregate indicator to measure the interaction between labour market supply and labour market demand. Specifically, the SEI represents the relationship between demand for workers and jobseeker activity. When the index increases, it demonstrates a ‘tightening’ employment market; where advertisers find it harder to fill roles (i.e. demand outweighs supply). This is favourable for jobseekers, as job opportunities are greater and competition between applicants is reduced. Inversely, as the index falls, it demonstrates a ‘softening’ employment market (i.e. supply outweighs demand) and advertisers find it easier to fill roles. In this instance, jobseekers need to compete more for available jobs.

ENDS

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