Hiring survey offers job seekers little cheer

The outlook is somewhat brighter for job seekers in the next three months, although employers' hiring intentions are still weaker than a year ago, according to the latest Manpower Employment Outlook survey.

New Zealand employers' hiring expectations for the third quarter of this year have improved slightly on the previous quarter, the Manpower quarterly survey of 868 employers indicates.

The index measures the difference between employers who plan to add jobs and those who expect to cut them.

"Hiring intentions in New Zealand continue to be sluggish and all three regions have continued to fall in the last three months; however, there is some good news with the majority of employers - 69 per cent - indicating they will make no reductions to their current headcount," said Manpower NZ and Australia managing director Lincoln Crawley.

Twelve per cent of employers forecast staff growth for the third quarter, and 18 per cent expect a decline. That equals a net result of -6, or -5 when seasonal variations in hiring activity are taken into account.

Kiwi employers' intentions for the April to June quarter were -10.

However, a year ago 23 per cent of employers expected to boost staff numbers, 11 per cent forecast a decrease and 63 per cent expected no change - an outlook of +12 (or +14 seasonally adjusted).

Locally Wellington has the weakest outlook for hiring, with a net -9 per cent of employers expecting a cut in staff numbers.

However, Christchurch and Auckland are not far behind, on -8 and -6 respectively.

Among the different industries, the transport and utilities sector is the most optimistic with a net +4 per cent of employers expecting to hire. Employers in the services sector also report an outlook of +1 per cent.

The worst sectors are manufacturing, at -10, and public administration and education at -8.

A net -3 per cent of employers in finance, insurance and real estate, and the mining and construction sector also forecast downbeat hiring prospects.

Manpower surveys 70,000 employers in 34 countries.

Australian bosses' intentions have improved slightly, up from a net -1 last quarter to +2 this time around. However, they are also down on this time last year, when a net 22 per cent of employers expected to hire.

US employers are in negative territory at -2 for the upcoming quarter, compared with +12 a year ago.

The Manpower survey shows employment prospects are best in India, Norway, Poland, Peru, Singapore and Taiwan.

Hiring intentions are weakest in Ireland, Spain, Greece, Romania, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom.

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Net hiring intentions for the coming quarter - how we compare

New Zealand: -5 per cent
Australia: +2 per cent
United States: -2 per cent
United Kingdom: -6 per cent
Ireland: -11 per cent
Spain: -8 per cent
India: +19 per cent
China: +3 per cent

All figures are seasonally adjusted

- AGENCIES