Construction, engineering, business and health sectors were among the highest industries to report an increase in job advertisements, recent figures show.
Jobs Online figures, released by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), showed the number of job advertisements rose by two per cent in the December 2018 quarter.
Jobs Online measures changes in online job advertisements from four internet job boards – SEEK, Trade Me Jobs, Education Gazette and Kiwi Health Jobs.
Workforce and Workplace manager Dr Rose Ryan said the increase in advertisements was slightly higher than the 1.7 per cent quarterly average seen in September 2018.
Construction, engineering, business services and the health sector showed the strongest increase across most of the regions.
The three regions with the highest increase over the quarter were in Gisborne/Hawke's Bay, Northland, and Manawatu – Whanganui/Taranaki. Only Canterbury had a fall in vacancies in the December 2018 quarter, Ms Ryan said.
Online advertising saw the strongest increase in professional occupations and machinery operator and driver groups across almost all of the regions. Semi-skilled jobs, especially in sales continued to show the weakest increase.
The growth in vacancies was consistent with the trend for business confidence.
A net five per cent of businesses increased their headcount and their hiring intentions remained steady in the December 2018 quarter, the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion also showed.
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