SEEK NZ Employment Report - February

Rob Clark, SEEK NZ Country Manager says

“After a notable rise in January worker demand readjusted in February and fell 2%.

“The month-on-month data can be a little bit noisy, and we are seeing some bounce among industries. For example, in the Call Centre & Customer Service industry, demand dropped 17% after jumping 35% in January – in this climate it is better to take a longer-term view of the numbers.

“After two years of steady and significant decline in job ad volumes, the past eight months have been broadly flat. While we may not be out of the woods yet, the days of significant, broad-based drops in worker demand should be behind us.

“For job seekers, we know that the start of the year is a peak time to jump back into the job hunt and the data shows it did, with a 5% rise in applications per job ad, coinciding with a rise in ad volumes in January.”

National Trends

After rising 4% m/m in January, job ads declined 2% in February, and have recorded no change q/q.

Since July last year, ads have remained relatively stable, aside from some noise month-to-month. This has been the most prolonged period of relative stability since pre-COVID.

Ad volumes declined across metro and regional areas, but to a larger extent in the regions, down 2.5% m/m, compared to 1.5% in the urban centres.

Applications per job ad jumped 5% m/m in January*, a new peak for application levels. In a month where job ads also rose significantly, this is evidence of significant candidate interest as workers head into the new year.

*Applications per job ad are recorded with a one-month lag. Data shown in this report refers to January data.

Figure 1: National SEEK job ad percentage change m/m (February 2024 to February 2025)

Table 1: National and regional job ad growth/decline comparing February 2025 to: i) January 2025 (m/m) and ii) February 2024 (y/y)

Region Trends

Most regions recorded a m/m decline in February. The largest decline m/m was in Tasman (-9%), followed by Otago (-7%) and Marlborough (-7%).

Despite the 7% drop in demand in February, ad volumes in Otago remain elevated q/q due to significant rises in December and January.

Four regions bucked the declining monthly trend in February, led by West Coast (6%), Canterbury (3%), Southland (2%) and Bay of Plenty (1%).

Applications per job ad rose again in the largest regions of Auckland (6%), Canterbury (4%), Wellington (2%) and Waikato (1%), among others.

Figure 2: National SEEK job ad percentage change by major region - February 2021 to February 2025.

Figure 3: National SEEK job ad percentage change by region (February 2025 vs January 2025)

Industry Trends

Demand stalled in the largest hiring industries in February, but it was a 15% decline in ad volumes in Call Centre & Customer Service roles that led the overall decline.

Trades & Services and Manufacturing Transport & Logistics, the two largest industries, declined 4% m/m and were also major contributors to the fall in ad volumes in February. For Manufacturing Transport & Logistics, which has seen growing demand m/m since November, ad volumes remain 7% higher q/q.

Taking a broader quarterly view, infrastructure and service-related roles are driving job ad growth for the country, while Professional Services have recorded next to no change for the past six months and the Public Sector has declined 7%.

Applications per job ad increased 18% m/m for Hospitality & Tourism roles, 15% for Engineering and Community Services &Development roles and 11% for Accounting roles, among others.

Figure 5: National SEEK Job Ad percentage change by industry (February 2025 vs January 2025) – Ordered by job ad volume

About SEEK NZ
SEEK has been helping New Zealanders live more fulfilling and productive working lives since 1999.

SEEK is a market leader in online employment marketplaces that span eight countries across Asia Pacific. SEEK makes a positive contribution to people’s lives on a global scale.

About the SEEK New Zealand Employment Report
The SEEK Employment Report provides a comprehensive overview of the New Zealand employment marketplace. The report includes the SEEK New Job Ad Index, which measures only new job ads posted within the reported month to provide a clean measure of demand for labour across all classifications. SEEK’s total job ad volume (not disclosed in this report) includes duplicated job advertisements and refreshed job ads. As a result, the SEEK New Job Ad Index does not always match the movement in SEEK’s total job ad volume.

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