Building boom creates jobs

Big projects such as the Waterview Connection are providing job opportunities. Photo / Natalie Slade

Construction, technology and architecture at forefront of employment growth, says Seek boss

Positions for 16,000 people are available now and 200,000 jobs have been advertised since January on one of New Zealand's biggest employment websites.

Janet Faulding, general manager of online job and training site Seek, said much of the job growth was in Auckland and construction, technology and architecture were at the forefront of job growth.

Seek was yesterday showing 8,206 Auckland positions.

Her comments followed this week's release of the latest quarterly report from Auckland Council chief economist Geoff Cooper who found the city's unemployment rate fell from 7.3 per cent in the first quarter of this year to 6.7 in the latest quarter, the biggest pickup since 2011.

Cooper also noted how construction was proving a huge employer, with big jobs like the Waterview Connection.

Latest data from Statistics NZ also showed the number of people employed increased by 8,000 from the March quarter to the June quarter.

New Zealand has a working age population of 3.5 million and a labour force of 2.4 million.

"In the June 2013 quarter, the seasonally adjusted number of people employed increased 0.4 per cent (8,000) to 2,242,000. This followed a 1.7 per cent rise in the March 2013 quarter," said Statistics NZ.

Janet Faulding predicted a rise in job numbers.

"As the economy continues to strengthen, we expect to see these positive signs of growth reflected in more and more industries," Faulding said.

"There were 300 opportunities listed under design and architecture on seek.co.nz in September and over 50 per cent were located in Auckland, mirroring the city's property-related construction boom," she said.

Government and defence posted the second largest increase with a 49 per cent growth in roles since September last year while self-employment opportunities increased by 35 per cent and trades and services were up 32 per cent.

New Zealand's biggest integrated construction and manufacturing conglomerate, Fletcher Building, employs 18,600 people internationally in 50 businesses, and has a dedicated employment site - www.fbcareers.com.

Fletcher has 110 jobs advertised globally of which 71 are in New Zealand.

It wants people to fill sales and services, telesales, area manager, driver, machine operator, concrete worker, supervisor and planning roles, as well as many other positions.

"The recruitment team have told me the number of job vacancies listed on our website is consistent with the last four months," said a Fletcher spokesperson.

"They say there's been no particular increase in activity, although seasonally this tends to be a busy time for recruitment as people look to sort things out before the Christmas break."

Low labour costs and a better tax system in New Zealand were prompts for Fletcher to create a new shared services centre in Auckland, responsible for processing and most of the administrative functions of the company's divisions here and in Australia.

Top job growth

Advertising growth since Sept

• Design and architecture - 51 per cent
• Government and defence - 49 per cent
• Self-employment - 35 per cent
• Trades and services - 32 per cent
• Construction - 30 per cent
• Farming, animals and conservation - 28 per cent
• Sports and recreation - 25 per cent
• Consulting and strategy - 24 per cent
• Real estate and property - 18 per cent
• Manufacturing, transport and logistics - 18 per cent

- Source: www.seek.co.nz