Kiwi Paypackets Grow Despite Fewer Job Listings And Competition For Vacant Roles

Zealand’s job market ended the last quarter of 2024 with record salaries, fewer listings and stiff competition among prospective employees.

Trade Me’s Head of Jobs Nicole Williams said Aotearoa produced another record average salary in 2024’s final quarter ending 31 December at $73,332, up 1.3 per cent year-on-year.

Record salaries across New Zealand

Record salaries for the quarter were in recorded in Auckland ($76,015), Bay of Plenty ($72,688), Canterbury ($72,125), Gisborne ($73,997), Manawatū-Whanganui ($70,032), Northland ($71,652), Otago ($73,371), Southland ($72,623), Taranaki ($70,832) and the Waikato ($73,388).

Regions with the biggest average pay increase from the previous July-September quarter were the West Coast (+3.8%), Gisborne (+3%) and Waikato (+2.5%).

The number of people applying for vacant roles has steadily increased with average applications per listing up 20 per cent year-on-year.

“It’s positive to see Kiwi employers offering competitive salaries to keep pace with inflation and remain attractive," says Nicole Williams.

“Wellington has been knocked off the top spot as the highest paying region by Auckland with a salary of $76,015 in the final quarter of last year, nearly $850 ahead of the Capital’s $75,168. Sitting in third place is the West Coast at $75,069.

“The West Coast could be considered an unexpected addition to the top three especially given it’s one of our smaller markets. However, we do see a number of highly-paid roles in the region and good salary growth quarter-on-quarter.”

Industries with the largest quarter on quarter average pay increase were architecture (+7%), IT (+5.6%) and property (+5.3%).

Pay and applications up, but where’s the jobs?

The total number of job listings fell by 35 per cent compared to the previous year and 17.2 per cent on the July-September quarter with declines across all regions.

“The quarterly drop we can attribute in part to seasonality, with a slowdown in the labour market as a result of the holiday season. However some of the other numbers we see are

stark reminders that the job market environment continues to be tough going for job seekers,” says Nicole Williams.

This drop in listings was significantly impacted by both Auckland and Wellington where listings were down 45.8 and 42.8 per cent respectively (year-on-year).

Regions that saw the smallest decline in job listings were the West Coast, down 17.8 per cent and Taranaki, where job listings fell 19.7 per cent.

"There's no doubt the current job environment will continue to create uncertainty which impacts both job seekers and prospective employers, who may be hesitant to hire new staff or even fill an existing vacancy - this is something we hear time and again.

“We continue to keep a close eye on key economic indicators and have seen movement in both the Official Cash Rate and in interest rates which should help restore business confidence that a recovery is coming.”

Applications, applications and more applications

Total job applications remain high, both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter.

“Applications per listing are up just over 20 per cent on the same period last year and 0.4 per cent on the prior quarter with an average of 33 applications per listing,” says Nicole Williams.

Auckland remained the region with the most competition, with an average of 49 applications per listing followed by Canterbury with 33 applications per listing.

The region with the least job hunter supply was Otago with an average of 15.6 applications per listing, followed by Marlborough (20.5) and Gisborne (20.6). Industries with highest were Retail (55.7), Customer service (54.1) and Hospitality & tourism (43.7)

Despite still being one of the most in-demand industries, hospitality and tourism was one of the few industries that saw a quarterly decline in applications per listing of 11.9 per cent, primarily driven by a 22.2 per cent decline in Chef applications per listing.

The top 5 most applied for for roles in the October-December quarter were:

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