The job hunt continues to be a challenge for Western Bay's unemployed, as latest figures show 552 job hunters are competing for one of the 82 vacancies registered in the region with Work and Income.
But the number of unemployed is dropping - at the end of January, 1400 people were claiming the benefit at Winz centres in Tauranga, Greerton, Mount Maunganui and Te Puke.
That figure stood at 808 at the end of March.
Winz Bay of Plenty regional labour market manger, Tuahu Watene, said growth in the Western Bay labour market in the last three months had been reflected in the figures.
However, the drop in people claiming an unemployment benefit could also be attributed to people moving overseas or out of the area, he said.
"The labour market in Tauranga has really picked up. That includes the kiwifruit and [seasonal work]," Mr Watene said.
"The vacancies are across all sectors. There's not one stand-out sector that's actually telling us that we need these types of people with these types of skills."
The most competitive industries were hospitality and retail, he said.
"There's a large amount of applicants for the kiwifruit sector, even though that's the seasonal work. People are keen to get into the labour force."
A search of the Winz online vacancies this week found just 26 jobs - all in Tauranga, with none listed in Te Puke.
The other 56 jobs were posted on noticeboards at Winz branches, Mr Watene said.
Jobs available included commercial cleaner, plasterer, baker, retail sales, chef, school bus supervisor and residential caregiver.
A search of Trade Me jobs found 179 full-time jobs advertised in Tauranga and seven in the Western Bay.
Mr Watene encouraged employers to consider placing their vacancies with Winz.
"We have got people on our books at the moment. We can help support training for our clients and support employers also."
In a recent Bay of Plenty Times online poll asking if it was hard to find a job in Tauranga, 91 per cent of respondents answered yes.
An unemployed single mother vented her frustrations on Facebook about struggling to return to the workforce after five years as a stay-at-home mum.
"[I] am looking for work within school hours as afterschool care is too expensive.
"Having no major qualifications and restriction of working hours, [and the] lack of work available makes it almost impossible to find a job.
"Being unemployed is stressful and depressing. I have experience in a range of work, am honest, reliable [and] punctual, yet finding work is almost impossible."
Ian Chitty, managing director of Tauranga's Personnel Resources/ Temp Resources, said the job market in the Western Bay was still competitive.
"People who are unemployed are facing strong competition from people in work that are looking to change jobs.
"If you are generally unskilled and don't have extra qualifications from high-school level, you go into a big pool of people who are seeking work. That's the most difficult area."
Mr Chitty also identified the building industry and retail as areas in which it was difficult to find work.
"Retail is suffering quite a bit at the moment, with people not spending.
"Where there's normally plenty of jobs in retail, at the moment the level of retail spending is lower, therefore business owners are tending to reduce the numbers."
Job hunters with a tertiary qualification would find it easier to get work, particularly in fields such as accounting and computing, Mr Chitty said.
Claudia Nelson, owner/operator of Tauranga-based recruitment agency The Right Staff, believed the tough economy had lessened the stigma of being unemployed. "I feel that after the last few years, people know how hard it's been out there.
"If someone hasn't worked for 6-12 months it's not frowned upon as much as three to four years ago. Everyone knows people have been made redundant."
Mrs Nelson said there was plenty of competition for work, and people were taking on temporary or contract roles just to be able to work.
Unskilled work was highly sought after, although "at least there's always plenty of it going around", she said.
But skilled areas such as construction, marketing and management were also suffering a lack of jobs.
"We have some good candidates around with marketing backgrounds, and middle management doesn't seem to have a lot of positions available either.
"In the $100,000 [bracket], the jobs seem to have disappeared."
While the job market is still tough, Mrs Nelson had observed "a slow but consistent pick-up in the market".
"We have been quite busy for the last few weeks. We have seen an increase in enquiries.
"People are still very cautious about taking on [new staff] and are cost conscious."
Simon Oldham, sales and marketing manager for QJumpers, a national online recruitment services and software provider based in Tauranga, said competition was tough for unskilled work, but filling skilled positions was tough and set to get worse.
"There's a lot of people who are going for the same kind of [unskilled] job. Competition is definitely hotter in that area."
The high youth unemployment rate - 27.5 per cent of teens aged 15 to 19 are unemployed - contributed to the demand for unskilled jobs, he said.
Nationwide research highlighted positions in hospitality and tourism, administration and office support, retail and call centre, and customer service as being most competitive.
In Tauranga, there was huge demand for part-time administration roles, which commonly attracted more than 100 applicants.
Mr Oldham said there was a feeling the market was starting to improve, but mainly in the skilled area.
"The number of jobs is slowly improving, but we still have a long way to go to get back to where we were in 2007."
Mr Oldham said it was easier for a candidate already in work to find a job.
"When you are talking to employers, if you have got an applicant who is already in work they are more willing to look at those people than those who are not in work, unless there's a good reason for them not being in work - for example, a mother who has been on maternity leave or someone who has been on an OE.
"Even people who have been made redundant, employers don't look on them as favourably; it puts that element of doubt.
"It does prejudice, and it shouldn't really, if [employers] do the reference checking and background checking and self-testing."
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