New Zealand’s hiring outlook strengthens

New Zealand’s hiring outlook strengthens:

Manpower Employment Outlook Survey Q3 2013

NEW ZEALAND (11 June, 2013): The latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey results show that the steady increase in hiring intentions in New Zealand will continue into the third quarter of 2013. Employers across the country report a strong Net Employment Outlook of +22%, up 2 percentage points from last quarter and 5 percentage points stronger year on year.

The quarterly forecast, which measures the hiring intentions of over 650 employers in New Zealand, found 28 per cent plan to increase hiring in quarter three, only seven per cent plan on decreasing hiring and 64 per cent will make no changes to their current work force. The resulting Net Employment Outlook of +22% indicates employers expect an active hiring pace in the next three months, with particularly bright prospects for job seekers in the Transportation & Utilities sector and the Finance, Insurance & Real Estate sector.

Lincoln Crawley, Managing Director ManpowerGroup Australia and New Zealand, said there is a healthy demand for talent across the country.

“The NZ employment market continues to strengthen as commercial and residential construction pipelines in Auckland and Christchurch drive activity in most sectors in the country.

“There is a lot of activity in the housing market in both cities, which is driving job growth in real estate and construction. There are constant reports about the strength of the real estate market and organisations in the sector are continuing to hire, which is fuelling further activity,” he said.

“New Zealand is really a two-horse race at the moment. In Auckland, the Unity plan is starting to take shape, and there has been a rezoning of areas to residential and planned infrastructure development. In Christchurch, the horizontal rebuild (roads and infrastructure) is now in place, allowing vertical rebuild planning to go ahead. The drop we observe in the Christchurch forecast is a reflection of this adjustment.

“There is still a short supply of retail and hospitality providers in Christchurch and there is growing demand to accommodate and feed the influx of workers for the rebuild.”

The transport and logistics sector has seen significant growth, where demand for building materials in the different regions and the high NZ dollar have caused an increase in imports.

“New Zealand only has three ports, so the market is dependent on land transport of materials and products,” Mr Crawley said.

“Consumer confidence is high and the Budget release in May indicated that the government is on track to get the economy back to surplus next year. All this is positive news for employers and is driving optimism in the job market. The unemployment rate fell to 6.2% in quarter 1 and the target of 5.5 per cent by March 2015 is looking achievable.”

Across the country, employers in Auckland reported a one percentage point increase in hiring intentions, to a Net Employment Outlook of +23%, while employers in Wellington reported an increase of five percentage points to an outlook of +26%. Employers in Christchurch report a Net Employment Outlook of +18%, down 11 percentage points from last quarter.

In a quarter on quarter comparison, employers in Finance, Insurance & Real Estate reported an increase in hiring intentions of seven percentage points, with an outlook of +33%. Employers in the Manufacturing sector reported an outlook of +17%, down three percentage points quarter on quarter. The Mining & Construction forecast fell five percentage points to +15%.

Employers in Public Administration and Education reported the largest fall among the sectors, dropping ten percentage points to an NEO of +15%.The Services sector rose five percentage points to an outlook of +27%, while Wholesale Trade and Retail fell to +19%, down two percentage points from last quarter.

Employers in the Transport & Utilities sector report a Net Employment Outlook of +39%, the strongest outlook reported in the sector in over nine years; this is being driven by huge demand for building and construction material across the country.

"Kiwis should be cheered by the positive news about the job market, as it not only means more employment opportunities, it reflects a general employer confidence that we just aren't seeing in other developed economies.

"At the same time, employers need to ensure they are planning ahead, because the downside of jobs growth is the possibility of skills shortages. Developing a robust workforce strategy is more important than ever," Mr Crawley said.

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