Applications per job ad reach new peak as hiring demand flattens - SEEK

Thursday, 20 March 2025

Labour market, employment, hiring, generic, jobs, skills, skills shortage

Job ads fell 2% in February, according to the latest SEEK NZ Employment Report.

The fall following a rise in January.

Over the past quarter, job ad volumes have remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, applications per job ad jumped 5% month-on-month in January, marking a new peak for application levels.

All major hiring industries either saw a decline or no change in ad volumes in February.

The Call Centre & Customer Service sector led the downturn with a 15% drop in demand, following a sharp increase in January.

SEEK New Zealand Country Manager Rob Clark commented on the trends:

“After a notable rise in January worker demand readjusted in February and fell 2%.

“The month-on-month data can be a little bit noisy, and we are seeing some bounce among industries. For example, in the Call Centre & Customer Service industry, demand dropped 17% after jumping 35% in January – in this climate it is better to take a longer-term view of the numbers.

“After two years of steady and significant decline in job ad volumes, the past eight months have been broadly flat. While we may not be out of the woods yet, the days of significant, broad-based drops in worker demand should be behind us.

“For job seekers, we know that the start of the year is a peak time to jump back into the job hunt and the data shows it did, with a 5% rise in applications per job ad, coinciding with a rise in ad volumes in January.”

The quarterly SEEK NZ Advertised Salary Index (ASI), which tracks salary trends across job postings, showed that advertised salaries increased by 0.7% quarter-on-quarter. However, annual advertised salary growth slowed to 2.6% year-on-year in February, with the rate of decline easing in the most recent quarter.