Construction and architecture vacancies have increased 33.9 per cent year-on-year. Photo: Mark Mitchell.
Construction and architecture vacancies have increased 33.9 per cent year-on-year. Photo: Mark Mitchell.
The employment market, largely led by Auckland, has seen strong growth in the past year with 54,000 jobs listed on Trade Me in the first quarter of 2015 - representing a 8.5 per cent year-on-year increase.
"Last year was a cracker year for the job market so it's good to see that trend continue in 2015," head of Trade Me Jobs, Peter Osborne said.
"It's also wonderful to see job hunters are the most optimistic they've been since the recession, according to Westpac McDermott Miller's latest research."
Although there was a definite slow-down over the last 10 days of the quarter - due in part to the end of the financial year, the lead-up to Easter and Black Cap fever - solid growth was seen in 12 out of 15 regions, Osborne said.
Listings in Auckland were up 16 per cent compared to the same time last year, underpinned by strong increases in Waitakere (up 32.6 per cent), Manukau (up 20.6 per cent) and the central city (up 12.8 per cent).
"It's encouraging to see the engine room and biggest contributor to the employment market thrive, and we expect this growth trend to continue," Osborne said.
Canterbury and Wellington showed a more muted result, he said.
Listings in Canterbury continued to be driven by the rebuild and were up 6 per cent year-on-year.
However, Wellington had dipped into negative territory, with job listings down 6 per cent.
Despite the drop, the Capital boasted the highest average full-time salary of $76,317, ahead of Auckland City on $73,448 and Grey on the West Coast at $59,793.
Other regions to see strong growth in job listings included Bay of Plenty (up 26.8 per cent), Marlborough (up 26 per cent) and Otago (up 14.7 per cent).
Taranaki did not fare as well, with listings down 19 per cent.
Photo: Mark Mitchell.
Construction and architecture roles remained in high demand, with listings up 33.9 per cent on the same time last year, driving growth across the country, Osborne said.
"Growth in this industry is happening at an exceptional rate, reflecting what we saw last quarter in relation to hands-on roles," he said.
"We'd suggest tradies in the market for new opportunities keep their eyes open too, as jobs in trades and services were up 8 per cent on the same time last year."
Other industries with notable increases included education (up 26.8 per cent), banking (up 20.9 per cent), property (up 18.8 per cent) and transport and logistics (up 13 per cent).
Although listings in the IT sector dropped from the 17.6 per cent year-on-year growth seen in the final quarter of 2014 to 2.9 per cent, remuneration was not affected, with all of the top five highest-paying roles across the site being listed from the IT sector in the last quarter, Osborne said.
Trade Me data also showed that average pay increased 3.5 per cent year-on-year, while the average number of applications per listing declined by 3.1 per cent.
The first three months of the year were traditionally when the highest number of jobs were advertised and were a good indication of the short to medium term trend, Osborne said.
