2016 Beyond Recruitment Economic & Labour Report

26 July 2016
Media Release

Beyond Recruitment Launches 2016 Beyond Recruitment Economic & Labour Report

The changing economic landscape has introduced growing pains into the New Zealand labour market.

Beyond Recruitment are delighted to launch the 2016 Beyond Recruitment Economic & Labour report, featuring the insights of Beyond Recruitment CEO, Liza Viz; General Manager, Ben Pearson; General Manager Client Solutions, Michelle Visser and Economist Shamubeel Eaqub. The report analyses a number of micro and macro-economic factors and how they are currently influencing the New Zealand employment market.

In the report, Eaqub shares his insights on a number of topics, including recent employment trends, the economic outlook, and the impact of New Zealand’s ‘new property economy’ on the labour market.

A sea of transformation and change during our recovery phase has changed the nature of our economy, and the key drivers of our growth. Although strong population growth is underpinning New Zealand’s rapid economic development, the recovery is uneven across the country when it comes to jobs.

“The new property economy we live in has created an influx of job seekers into certain regions that don’t have the jobs to meet the demand, whilst other regions are seeing a significant shortage of skilled job seekers that do not meet their talent demands,” said Beyond Recruitment CEO, Liza Viz.

Much of this shortage comes from a changing economy, with a new generation moving into the job market and the digital revolution really taking a hold.

“Digital transformation – the disruptive transformation of business in an agile environment –poses issues for employers who are desperate to find the skills to work through this fast moving change,” said Viz.

These skills are not easily available locally, and attracting international talent is an issue…particularly into regions where housing is unaffordable whether looking to rent or buy.”

However, with some sectors driving this rapid growth and others are struggling to keep up, Shamubeel Eaqub emphasises the importance of understanding the difference between structural growth and cyclical growth. These two different types of growth can mean very different things for the labour market.

“With an industry like ICT, that’s very much a structural trend of improvement, which will persist for many decades to come.” said Eaqub.

“The very strong growth in Property, and Financial Services, I think is much more cyclical. It is about that very strong growth in prices, very strong growth in borrowing, which is fuelling each other. We don’t know when it might end, but I think it will end, and when that ends those jobs that have been very lucrative until now will disappear.”

This change has also had a significant impact regionally. Naturally, Auckland has seen the brunt of the change thanks to its skyrocketing property market, but there have also been notable developments in Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington and Christchurch. To Shamubeel, Wellington is especially interesting.

“Given that Auckland’s struggling to cope with the amount of growth it has, Wellington should be marketing itself as the alternative; as the cool little capital that can do it,” said Eaqub.

“The big challenge is around career prospects, and the potential growth that you might have…when you’re spending many hours on traffic, and so much of your income is going towards mortgage payments, Wellington is a very attractive alternative.”

About Us

Beyond Recruitment is New Zealand’s largest Kiwi-owned recruitment agency. Established in 2003, the Beyond Group employs over 90 staff and has offices in Auckland and Wellington. Beyond Recruitment’s highly experienced consultants work within one of Beyond Recruitment’s ten specialist business areas, and each further specialises in a particular role type.

Whether you’re looking for a new role, or looking to find the best permanent, contract or temporary talent, Beyond Recruitment know where to look and who to speak to.

ENDS

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