SEEK NZ Employment Report - September 2024

National Trends

After 15 months of relatively steady decline, and a jump in July, job ad volumes fell slightly in September.

While there was growth and decline within certain sectors, the large industries recorded only marginal fluctuation, which supported the small monthly fall.

For the first time in a year, applications per job ad fell, declining 2% from July to August.

Region Trends

A 6% rise in ad volumes in Canterbury bucked the trend for all of the other most populous regions in September.

Auckland, Wellington and Bay of Plenty recorded 1% drops in job ads while Waikato and Otago each declined by 3%.

As smaller and less populous regions, Gisborne, which grew 14% m/m and West Coast, where there was a 12% decline, are prone to greater fluctuation than the larger areas, with less impact on the national volume.

Over the past quarter, three regions have recorded a rise in ad volumes: Bay of Penty (1%), Northland (3%) and West Coast (12%).

Applications per job ad rose m/m in Waikato (2%), Taranaki (13%), Tasman (5%) and Gisborne (9%). In Wellington where application per job ad have been rising for 12 months, the longest of all regions, application per ad remained steady with no change.

Industry Trends

Most of the large industries recorded only marginal growth or decline in September, or no change at all. This was true of Trades & Services (1%), Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics (0%) and Retail & Consumer Products (-1%). Information & Communication Technology also recorded a rare 3% rise in job ads.

The more notable declines in September were in Healthcare & Medical (-5%), Engineering (-11%) and Construction (-8%), but these were offset by growth in some of the Professional Services industries including Insurance & Superannuation (27%), Real Estate & Property (17%) and Legal (11%). The relatively small size of the former two industries do make them prone to fluctuation m/m.

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