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Jobs section in newspaper - Source: ONE News -
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The number of new job listings on Seek rose nearly 11% in January, according to the online jobs advertiser, suggesting that last week's unemployment figures could be the peak in the current unemployment cycle.
Last week's Labour Force Survey compiled by Statistics New Zealand showed a surprise rise in the unemployment rate from 6.5% to 7.3%, while the number of unemployed people rose by 18,000 to 168,000.
However, Seek general manager Annemarie Duff says the difference between its Job Ad Index and the unemployment data is indicative of the lag between the rise in job ads and unemployment.
"I think it's important to note that the unemployment figures we saw last week relate to the October to December period so they are last year's numbers, and the numbers we're talking about is straight off the back of January which is traditionally a really good time for jobs coming on to the market," she says.
Seek's index for January shows new jobs rose a seasonally adjusted 10.9% nationwide on the previous month, with Auckland out front on 15.9% growth.
"It's good to see Auckland surging back particularly as that was the market that was most impacted (by the downturn)," says Duff.
Duff says growth was slower in other parts of the country, with the other two main centres, Wellington and Christchurch, improving a marginal 1.1% and 0.4% respectively.
"There were quite a lot of lay-offs in the Christchurch market last year, and I think we've got an oversupply of applicants in that market," she says.
On the contrary, the Auckland job market appears to be tightening with fewer applicants available in that market.
Duff says the index also show that New Zealand is experiencing significant new job ad recovery compared to Australia, with 31.42% growth since July last year compared with Australia's 26.2%. However, she says New Zealand's growth comes from a much lower base.
"You've got to look at it in terms of the relativity of their market, but it's really good to see us coming back so strongly," she says.
Sector-wise, IT continues to display strong growth in new job listings, as are the healthcare and education sectors.
Duff says sales and marketing listings are also kicking back, showing that employers want to move out of the recession as quickly as possible.
Since July, new job ads on Seek have risen 41.6%.
