More to smile about

Employment should rise sharply next year. Photo / Thinkstock

People's job satisfaction is lower here than in Australia, according to a global survey of people in work.

The Randstad Workmonitor is published four times a year and has been running since 2003.

It tracks employee confidence, and provides an insight to job market sentiment and trends relating to the employment market.

The survey covers people living in 29 countries, aged 18 to 65 and working at least 24 hours a week - this is the first time New Zealand has been included.

Results from its first quarter 2011 survey shows the global recession may be subsiding, with people increasingly confident on the job front.

According to the recruitment firm's report, of the 400 New Zealanders who took part in its survey, 69 per cent feel they would get a comparable job within the next six months if they wanted to change jobs.

The Randstad report reflects data in the NZ Labour Market report released on May 3.

It shows the labour market strengthened over the March 2011 quarter, with a strong increase in the number of people employed.

It says employment rose by 1.4 per cent (30,000 people). However, much of the employment increase is down to people who are self-employed.

But, rising wage growth, increased employment intentions, and continued growth in online job adverts point to a strengthening in the demand for labour over the past year.

According to the Department of Labour, two-thirds of the rise in employment over the March 2011 quarter was because of an increase in part-time jobs (up by 19,000), with full-time employment increasing by 9000.

The department expects the unemployment rate to remain around its current rate of 6.8 per cent over the first three quarters of the year before trending down.

However, once the rebuild work in Christchurch gathers momentum over 2012, employment is expected to rise sharply.

General manager of Randstad New Zealand, Paul Robinson, says New Zealand's rising confidence level, coupled with a growing shortage of both skilled and unskilled people, suggested staff and job hunters could expect wage and salary inflation to pick up over the next two years.

"It is promising to see, as New Zealand winds down from the global financial crisis, people are becoming more confident in the local economy," he said. When it comes to job satisfaction, the Randstad survey shows 67 per cent of New Zealand employees are satisfied with their jobs, but job satisfaction in Australia is higher at 78 per cent.

"It is positive, our findings show job satisfaction is relatively high in New Zealand," he said.

"We predict that as the economy slowly improves, this percentage is likely to rise."

The Randstad survey also found more than half of New Zealanders were keen to develop their careers, with more than half of those who took part in the survey (58 per cent) saying they are focused on getting a promotion.

When it came to social media, New Zealand workers had areas requiring improvement, but were not behind the eight ball, said Robinson.

"Findings from Randstad's Workmonitor show 73 per cent of employees surveyed have an account on a social media website, and 42 per cent of those updated their account in April," Robinson said.

In terms of profiling themselves professionally, only 4 per cent of New Zealanders use social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter to promote themselves as a potential employee. This figure is behind Australia at 7 per cent and considerably behind the leader, India, where 27 per cent of people profile themselves professionally online.