MEDIA RELEASE
15 August 2012

Online Vacancies Increase Slightly in July

Skilled job vacancies advertised online fell in July, but total online job vacancies increased according to the latest Jobs Online report from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

The latest results show skilled job vacancies fell by a seasonally adjusted 1.5 percent in July compared to the previous month. However, total online job vacancies (both skilled and unskilled) rose by 0.7 percent.

Despite the fall in July, growth in online job vacancies has been positive over the past year, with skilled job vacancies up 5.3 percent compared to a year ago, and total job vacancies up by 9.1 percent.

“The increase in skilled vacancies over the past year, combined with positive hiring intentions in recent business confidence surveys, is consistent with the continued gradual growth in employment we are expecting over the next couple of years,” says the Ministry’s Labour and Immigration Research Centre General Manager Vasantha Krishnan.

Last week’s Household Labour Force Survey showed a small national rise in the unemployment rate, up 0.1 percentage points in the June 2012 quarter - largely due to the continued volatility within the Canterbury region.

“However, the Ministry is forecasting that employment is expected to grow in 2013 and 2014 by 1.1 percent and 1.8 percent respectively, driven by the continued economic recovery and the rebuild of Christchurch,” Ms Krishnan says.
Employment growth is expected to be strongest in the Auckland region, driven by growth in wholesale and retail trade, transport and storage, and business services which are employment intensive industries; and in the Canterbury region, mainly in construction related activities.

The Jobs Online series shows that over the past 12 months, strong growth was seen in the healthcare and medical (up by 23.6 percent), sales, retail, marketing and advertising (up by 10.8 percent) and construction and engineering (up by 10.1 percent) industries.

There has been noticeable growth in Canterbury (up by 26.9 percent) over the same period. This can be attributed to the strong regional growth of skilled vacancies in construction and engineering (up by 58.5 percent) and hospitality and tourism (up by 50.2 percent).

ENDS

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