25 June 2025

NATIONAL ADVERTISED SALARY TRENDS

• Advertised salary growth rose by 0.6% q/q in the quarter to May.
• Annual advertised salary growth slowed to 2.4% y/y in May.
• With faster quarterly growth over the past six months, the rate of decline for annual growth is slowing.

REGIONAL ADVERTISED SALARY TRENDS

• Quarterly average advertised salary growth was fastest outside of the major cities at 0.8% q/q, while growth in Wellington was below the other major metro regions at 0.4% q/q.
• Annual advertised salary growth has been faster on the North Island than the rest of the country, with growth outside of Auckland rising at 2.7% y/y. The annual pace of advertised salary growth on the South Island has been slower, although it has accelerated outside of Wellington of late to 1.2% y/y.

INDUSTRY ADVERTISED SALARY TRENDS

• Annual advertised salaries continue to grow fastest in Science & Technology (8.8% y/y), well above the national average (2.4%).
• Of the 27 industries, only Human Resources & Recruitment, and Advertising, Arts & Media have experienced annual advertised salary declines and both were relatively small (0.2% y/y).

SEEK NZ Country Manager, Rob Clark, says:

“Annual average advertised salary growth continues to slow, despite faster growth in the most recent quarter.”
 
“Average annual growth across the Rest of the South Island has picked up in the most recent quarter, likely driven by notable employment growth in Otago which has added a lot of jobs over the past year.”
 
“Around half of all industries are seeing their average advertised salaries growing faster than inflation, which is good news for job seekers in these industries.”

NATIONAL ADVERTISED SALARY TRENDS

After a period of slower growth last year, quarterly growth has picked up in recent quarters, and rose by 0.6% q/q.
  
Figure 1: Quarter-on-quarter growth of SEEK Advertised Salary Index

Annual advertised salary growth continued slowing to 2.4% y/y in May and is broadly sitting around its pre-COVID levels. As a result of the recent slowdown in annual advertised salary growth, it is now growing slower than inflation which was 2.5% in the year to March 2025.

Figure 2: Year-on-year growth of SEEK Advertised Salary Index

REGIONAL ADVERTISED SALARY TRENDS

Over the past quarter advertised salaries grew the fastest in the Rest of the North Island and the Rest of the South Island (0.8% q/q). In contrast, recent quarterly growth has been slower in Wellington (0.4% q/q) and Canterbury (0.5% q/q).
 
Annual advertised salary growth in Wellington (1.8% y/y) continues to be slower than the other major metro areas. With quarterly growth at around 0.4% over the previous three quarters it suggests annual growth may trough at around 1.6% y/y.
 
The slower annual growth in advertised salaries on the South Island and in Wellington continue to pull down the national average, although the recent strong growth in the Rest of the South Island has seen its annual advertised salary growth lift to 1.2%. Otago has had a relatively robust labour market over the past year with notable employment growth, while the remainder of the South Island has had little employment growth.
 
Table 1: SEEK Advertised Salary Index growth by region

Figure 3: Year-on-year growth of SEEK Advertised Salary Index by region

INDUSTRY ADVERTISED SALARY TRENDS
 
At 8% y/y, advertised salary growth in Science & Technology continues to be faster than other industries. Recent fast quarterly growth in Real Estate & Property (2.0% q/q), and Mining, Resources & Energy (1.6% q/q) has resulted in robust annual advertised salary growth in these two industries (8.4% y/y and 6.3% y/y respectively).
 
Over the past year, advertised salaries in the Human Resources & Recruitment, and Advertising, Arts & Media industries have both declined 0.2% y/y.
 
Since February 2020 advertised salaries have grown across the board, although the overall growth has varied considerably from industry to industry. While all industries have experienced growth over this period, only six industries have seen their advertised salary growth outpace inflation; Mining, Resources & Energy, Healthcare & Medical, Sport & Recreation, Call Centre & Customer Service, Legal and Consulting & Strategy.

Table 2: SEEK Advertised Salary Index growth by industry

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