Advertised salaries in New Zealand rose at the fastest pace in the August quarter since records began in 2016, according to Seek.
Advertised salaries in New Zealand rose at the fastest pace in the August quarter since records began in 2016, according to Seek.
Advertised salaries in New Zealand show no sign of slowing down, even outpacing those in Australia for the second quarter running, according to new figures from Seek.
Seek’s Advertised Salary Index (ASI) for the August 2023 quarter - which measures the change in advertised salaries for vacant roles - rose5.1 per cent year-on-year, the fastest pace since records began in 2016, and smashing the previous high of a 4.7 per cent year-on-year rise for the May 2023 quarter.
On a quarterly basis, the ASI was up 1.3 per cent in August.
Advertised salary growth in New Zealand remains strong, despite the slowing economy, Seek NZ country manager Rob Clark said.
“While wage growth is still not keeping up with inflation, our data suggests it may continue to rise from current levels,” he said.
“New Zealand’s advertised salaries are rising faster than any point in the past six years, outpacing salary growth in Australia.”
Australia’s ASI grew at 4.6 per cent year-on-year for the August quarter.
Seek NZ country manager Rob Clark.
While New Zealand’s advertised salary growth has continued to accelerate, Australia’s has flattened off after a very strong 2022, Seek said in its report.
Inflation and the minimum wage could both be playing a part.
Inflation has been slightly faster in New Zealand compared with Australia (1.1 per cent quarter-on-quarter in Q2 versus 0.8 per cent in Australia), while minimum wages here have increased slightly faster (7.08 per cent) than in Australia (5.75 per cent).
Engineering experienced the fastest year-on-year ASI growth of any of the large industries (up 7.6 per cent). Other big gainers were consulting and strategy (10.1 per cent), healthcare and medical (7.3 per cent) and advertising, arts and media (7.1 per cent).
Advertised salaries in construction rose 6.2 per cent and education was up 5.6 per cent.
ASI growth in information and communication technology (2.8 per cent) continued to be relatively sluggish, lagging all other industries year-on-year.
All regions recorded strong growth over the past year, Clark said, with the South Island outpacing the North.
Advertised salaries in Canterbury rose the fastest (6.5 per cent) in the year to August. Auckland (4.7 per cent) lagged slightly behind the rest of the country.
The ‘rest of South Island’ recorded ASI growth of 6.2 per cent, followed by ‘rest of North Island’ (5.3 per cent) and Wellington (4.8 per cent).
Meanwhile, job ad volumes snapped a run of monthly declines going back to March.
Job ads increased 2 per cent between July and August, according to Seek’s Monthly Employment Report.
Ad volumes are 26 per cent down on August last year - albeit coming off record highs - but are 4 per cent higher than August 2019.
“Typically, leading into a general election, we would expect to see a dip in hiring activity as businesses put plans on hold. Yet it is one month out from the election and hiring activity has picked up,” Clark said.
“Businesses are beginning to plan for a busy lead-in to summer, with demand for workers rising for the first time in five months,” he added.
Applications per job ad increased for the sixth consecutive month, up 2 per cent in July (a lag month for Seek’s data).
“Applications per job ad continue to rise and continue to break Seek records,” Clark said. “Application levels are higher than they have ever been before, growing in the double digits for call centre and customer service roles, sales [roles] and education and training roles in particular.”
New Zealand’s inflation rate took another tumble in the June quarter, dropping from 6.7 per cent to 6. However, prices still remain elevated, particularly for food.
Cameron Smith is an Auckland-based journalist with the Herald business team. He joined the Herald in 2015 and has covered business and sports.
