Media release

20 February 2013

Rise In Online Job Vacancies

Online job vacancies increased in January following two consecutive falls in November and December, according to the latest Jobs Online report from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

The latest results show that skilled vacancies advertised online rose by 10.6 percent in January and all online job vacancies rose by 12.6 percent compared to December.

“Recruitment activities usually start to pick up in January, and the growth rate this January is higher than a year ago. This is reflected in the strong growth in the seasonally adjusted series over the month,” says the Ministry’s Acting Manager of Labour Market and Business Performance, David Paterson.

Skilled vacancies in the information technology industry had the biggest growth over the month (up by 25.9 percent), followed by construction and engineering (up by 9.5 percent) and healthcare and medical (up by 8.9 percent).

Skilled vacancies increased in all regions over the month, with the biggest growths recorded in the country’s main centres. The Canterbury region had the biggest growth (up by 18.5 percent), followed by Wellington (up by 10.2 percent) and Auckland (up by 9.2 percent).

Vacancy growth in Canterbury continues to be strong over the year (up by 22.0 percent), driven mainly by the construction and engineering industry (up by 80.6 percent).

“The strong growth in job vacancies in the construction and engineering industry in Canterbury shows that the rebuild continues to drive demand for labour in the region,” says Mr Paterson.

Over the year to January, skilled vacancies rose by 8.5 percent and all vacancies rose by 12.7 percent.

More information on Jobs Online is available at www.dol.govt.nz/publications/jol/index.asp.

Jobs Online provides information on the demand for labour by monitoring the number of jobs advertised on main internet job boards. Jobs Online is adjusted for seasonal variations.

ENDS

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