Manpower Employment: Employer confidence in NZ still upbeat

11 September 2012

Employer confidence in New Zealand remains upbeat: Manpower Employment Outlook Survey

The results of the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey released today show that employer confidence in New Zealand will remain upbeat for the remainder of 2012, with a Net Employment Outlook (NEO) of +18%, led by a surge in Mining and Construction sector job prospects.

The survey of over 650 employers in New Zealand found that 27 per cent of employers expect to increase hiring, while 8 per cent plan to decrease hiring. Once adjusted to remove seasonal variations in the data, the country’s NEO is +18%. The outlook is unchanged quarter-over-quarter, but declines by a moderate margin year-over-year.

Lincoln Crawley, Managing Director of ManpowerGroup Australia and New Zealand, said that the recent announcement of the Christchurch rebuild blueprint is driving some of this optimism.

“The anticipated increase in construction work has driven the sector’s NEO to +39%, which is up by nine percentage points from the previous quarter and is the strongest fourth quarter outlook for the sector since the survey began in 2004.

“The announcement of the rebuild blueprint is leading to a surge in construction activity, as employers in this sector finalise their plans and begin work. We expect to see greater demand for roles such as project managers, construction and site managers, and quantity surveyors,” he said.

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey found that job prospects improve or remain relatively stable in most sectors of the NZ economy:

• Employers in the Transportation and Utilities sector continue to anticipate an active hiring pace in the fourth quarter with a NEO that stands at +27%, up nine percentage points when compared with the same time last year.
• In the Manufacturing sector, the NEO jumped 8 percentage points quarter over-quarter to +17%.
• Meanwhile, the outlook for the Finance, Insurance and Real Estate sector declined nine percentage points year-over-year to a NEO +8%, although hiring plans are relatively stable quarter-over-quarter.
• Employer optimism fell slightly in Public Administration and Education; down four percentage points quarter-over-quarter to +12%.
• Hiring intentions remained relatively stable in the Services, and Wholesale Trade and Retail Trade sectors when compared quarter-over-quarter.

Looking at the regions, employers in Christchurch report the strongest fourth quarter hiring intentions with a solid NEO of +24%. Wellington employers reported the strongest jump in hiring intentions, up four percentage points quarter-over-quarter to +16%. Compared to last quarter, the Outlook for Auckland was up two percentage points to +18%.

Mr. Crawley said it was unsurprising that Christchurch has the strongest jobs outlook.

“An estimated 36,000 additional workers will be required at the height of the Christchurch rebuild, so job seekers looking for roles in construction, engineering or trades should consider relocating and retraining where necessary to ensure they have the required skills to fill these roles,” said Mr. Crawley.

“ManpowerGroup’s online job portal, Rebuild Our City, allows those looking for roles to register their interest and begin their job search,” he said.

*The Net Employment Outlook is derived by taking the percentage of employers anticipating an increase in hiring activity and subtracting from this the percentage of employers expecting to see a decrease in employment at their location in the next quarter.

About Manpower New Zealand
ManpowerGroup, the world leader in innovative workforce solutions, has been helping clients and candidates win in New Zealand since 1996. With eight branches in three cities across the nation, Manpower New Zealand provides unique value to clients and candidates through recruitment & assessment, training & development, career management, outsourcing and workforce solutions.

This is the Human Age, where access to talent has replaced access to capital as the key competitive differentiator. Manpower New Zealand creates powerful connections between organisations and the talent they need to enhance their competitiveness and unleash their workforce potential. By creating these powerful connections, we help everybody achieve more than they imagined, and power the world of work.

Follow Manpower New Zealand on Twitter http://twitter.com/manpowernz

About ManpowerGroup
ManpowerGroup™ (NYSE: MAN), the world leader in innovative workforce solutions, creates and delivers high-impact solutions that enable our clients to achieve their business goals and enhance their competitiveness. With over 60 years of experience, our $22 billion company creates unique time to value through a comprehensive suite of innovative solutions that help clients win in the Human Age. These solutions cover an entire range of talent-driven needs from recruitment and assessment, training and development, and career management, to outsourcing and workforce consulting. ManpowerGroup maintains the world’s largest and industry-leading network of nearly 3,900 offices in over 80 countries and territories, generating a dynamic mix of an unmatched global footprint with valuable insight and local expertise to meet the needs of its 400,000 clients per year, across all industry sectors, small and medium-sized enterprises, local, multinational and global companies. By connecting our deep understanding of human potential to the ambitions of clients, ManpowerGroup helps the organizations and individuals we serve achieve more than they imagined – because their success leads to our success. And by creating these powerful connections, we create power that drives organizations forward, accelerates personal success and builds more sustainable communities. We help power the world of work. The ManpowerGroup suite of solutions is offered through ManpowerGroup™ Solutions, Manpower®, Manpower Professional™ and Right Management®. Learn more about how the ManpowerGroup can help you win in the Human Age at www.manpowergroup.com.

In January 2011, at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, ManpowerGroup announced the world has entered the Human Age, where talent has replaced capital as the key competitive differentiator. Learn more about this new age at www.manpowergroup.com/humanage

Follow ManpowerGroup Chairman and CEO Jeff Joerres on Twitter: http://twitter.com/manpowerceo.

ENDS

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