Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Unemployment at eight-year low

By Jordan Bond and Ruth Keber
Bay of Plenty Times·
21 May, 2016 12:36 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Unemployment for the Bay of Plenty region is the lowest it has been in almost eight years with Bay businesses employing more people than at any time in at least the last nine years.

Comparable to the housing boom, more Aucklanders are targeting the Tauranga job market and are accepting pay cuts for a better lifestyle.

According to Statistics New Zealand, almost 32,000 more people were employed in the Bay of Plenty in the March quarter compared to the March 2007 quarter, taking the total number of people employed in the Bay of Plenty to 147,000.

The unemployment rate was at its lowest since December 2008 and had dropped from 7.8 per cent to 5.1 per cent in the last year alone - the lowest in the North Island.

Seek.co.nz this week had 430 jobs advertised in Tauranga, while Trade Me had 727 jobs listed in Tauranga and 54 in the Western Bay of Plenty. In November 2013 the Bay of Plenty Times reported Seek had 236 jobs available in Tauranga and Trade Me had 351 in Tauranga and 20 in the Western Bay.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Recruitment and training company Agoge general manager Jim Grafas said job vacancies had definitely lifted during the past 12 months.

Mr Grafas said some roles he recruited for could attract hundreds of applicants, but they were often people who were from overseas and not immediately available or had other issues.

"In unskilled and temporary casual roles there is a lot more pressure and it's increasingly hard to find people, combined with increasing staff turnover in these roles. Some companies are reporting well over 100 per cent turnover in a 12-month period in their roles."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Higher paid roles (more than $100,000) were attracting significant numbers out-of-town applications, he said.

"One senior management role we recently marketed attracted nearly 100 applications, including a large number of overly qualified people willing to take a pay cut to relocate to Tauranga," Mr Grafas said.

The Right Staff senior recruitment, human resources consultant and director Claudia Nelson agreed the Tauranga job market was active.

Mrs Nelson said she expected to see it continue throughout the next year.

"Well-qualified and well-paid employees from Auckland choose Tauranga for lifestyle reasons and accept pay cuts to move here.

"It seems there are more candidates moving into the market than additional roles are available and we feel it will put pressure on local candidates to become more competitive, upskill and or gain additional qualifications," Mrs Nelson said.

"Over the last year the employment market has been buoyant with employers showing confidence in the business conditions, replacing staff and creating new roles without much hesitation."

Candidates had also been more active looking for better roles as well, she said.

"Over the last three to four months there has been a strong influx of job seekers from Auckland, which has led to increased competition over medium level to senior roles." Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stan Gregec said the figures were hugely pleasing to hear.

"That's a terrific change isn't it? That's a huge difference.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"That basically shows Tauranga is really going through a confident and buoyant phase at the moment and that looks set to continue.

"People are spending money and they're employing; those are the key drivers. Obviously people have more money in their pockets to spend and they are spending that money locally, and it's having a ripple effect in all sectors," Mr Gregec said.

Mt Maunganui-based Ultimate Homes said the company has been increasingly busy over the last few years. Owner Greg Leopold said the company added an extra four builders recently to cope with demand.

"It's been very busy. We've probably got a solid 12 months ahead of us and, in general, 40 per cent busier than we were three years ago," he said.

However, Mr Leopold said there were only enough subcontractors to fulfil the current demand and there may be shortages, should the industry heat up more. He said concrete tile roofers were being flown up from Christchurch to meet demand in the Bay.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

'The man I once trusted violently raped me': Man jailed for attacking ex-wife next to sleeping child

07 Jul 08:00 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Do it now, run him over'. Teen who ran over mother's partner twice can finally be named

07 Jul 07:00 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Hunter who feeds the hungry named Volunteer of the Year

07 Jul 06:56 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

'The man I once trusted violently raped me': Man jailed for attacking ex-wife next to sleeping child

'The man I once trusted violently raped me': Man jailed for attacking ex-wife next to sleeping child

07 Jul 08:00 AM

The man apologised to his victim, but pleaded not guilty.

'Do it now, run him over'. Teen who ran over mother's partner twice can finally be named

'Do it now, run him over'. Teen who ran over mother's partner twice can finally be named

07 Jul 07:00 AM
Hunter who feeds the hungry named Volunteer of the Year

Hunter who feeds the hungry named Volunteer of the Year

07 Jul 06:56 AM
Downhill mountain bikers impress on world stage

Downhill mountain bikers impress on world stage

07 Jul 06:38 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP