Job ads remain at record high, but people are not applying

Thursday, 10 March 2022

Job ad numbers remained at record highs in February but the number of people applying is dropping steadily, recruitment website Seek’s data shows.

Ad volumes for February were up 40 per cent on the same time last year. But over the same period applications per job were down 46 per cent.

Seek NZ country manager Rob Clark said despite the demand for workers, candidates were hesitant.

Industries that displayed record levels of job ads in February included healthcare, retail, transport, education and manufacturing.

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Rob Clark, Seek NZ country manager, says there has been a return of healthy activity in the labour market.

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A notable exception was hospitality, for which job ads fell 13 per cent at the same time as Covid-19 cases rose.

Many employers were holding out for the borders to be reopened, but that could be a double-edged sword for the job market, Clark said.

“The reopening of international borders may be cause for some optimism as we can look forward to an influx of workers again for the first time in two years.

The official unemployment rate is based on a survey by Stats NZ. To count, people must have actively looked for work in the previous four weeks.

“In saying that, there is the concern that we will lose candidates to the lure of OE and overseas opportunities. Applications and people movement will be a key metric to watch over the coming months,” Clark said.

The demand for workers was seen across the country with all regions showing a year-on-year increase in job ads for February, the Seek data showed.

The biggest increase from the January data, was in the Manawatū region which recorded an 11 per cent increase in job ads, followed by the Gisborne region which had an 8 per cent increase.

The only region to experience a drop in January was Auckland, in which job ads slipped 3 per cent, although the region was still up 39 per cent on the same time last year.

Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen said the Seek figures pointed to a competitive environment in which businesses were focused on keeping current staff because of the difficulty of replacing people.

That some crucial sectors of the economy such as transport and construction were struggling to find workers should be a concern to the wider economy, he said.

“We are seeing some early signs of the economy starting to hit capacity limits, in terms of finding the people to do the work that needs to be done. The data we are seeing just reinforces that we currently have a very tight labour market,” Olsen said.

Olsen said he was also concerned that when the borders reopened, more people might leave the country than came in.

“We already have a net outflow of around 4000 people leaving the country in the year to December 2021. There is certainly a risk that with high inflation and high housing cost in New Zealand we will see people head overseas.”