Northland tipped to get 3530 more jobs in 3 years

Martin Paul, left and his IT tutor Anthony Poa say they believe there will be more jobs in IT for Northlanders in future. Photo / John Stone

For Martin Paul, information technology (IT) is the key to growing and sustaining jobs in Northland due to the global demand for the profession.

The 26-year-old Whangarei man is one of a growing number of young people studying IT to work in the vast array of fields within the industry; roles such as web developers, system analysts and computer programmers.

The sector is predicted to provide an increasing number of jobs in Northland in the next three years.

The latest short-term employment forecasts report from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) said an estimated 3530 more jobs would be created in Northland in the next three years.

The forecasts indicate the likely growth path of employment, MBIE said.

In Northland, demand will be the strongest for system analysts and programmers, and information and communications technology (ICT) managers with 1989 more jobs in this sector likely in the next three years.

IT professionals can earn between $55,000 a year for a junior web developer to $170,000 for programme managers.

The second highest demand is expected to be in health and community services which includes doctors. There is an expected need for 891 additional jobs, including 221 for midwives and nurses,

IT and health services are considered high-skilled occupations.

The education sector comes third on the list and is likely to employ 452 more people.

The ministry uses the Treasury's latest Gross Domestic Product (GDP), macro-economic forecasts, and productivity assumptions at industry levels to come up with indicative growth in different sectors.

Mr Paul is studying IT at People Potential in Whangarei and said knowledge of digital technology was a must in this day and age with automated systems and centralised office management.

"I see IT as an industry that can grow rapidly and I want to be a part of that change. IT is so diverse' so there's so much you can learn.

"Even 10 years ago IT wasn't that advanced. In the last five years, we've gone from flip-phones to iPads and iPhones and it's amazing," he said.

His tutor Anthony Poa is teaching advanced level IT involving server engineering and building networks.

"A lot of systems are becoming automated and management is becoming centralised so you've got to have someone run them from a central point.

"Locals firms are also looking for IT people to run their data centres and the like. You can do so many things if you know how to run an IT network."

Northland Chamber of Commerce chief executive, Tony Collins, said IT was a massive component for many businesses.

"With ultra-fast broadband on the increase, there's more IT connectivity and so it's fast becoming an integral part of every business," he said.

The ministry's manager of labour market trends, Nita Zodgekar said demand for skilled workers was forecast to increase by about 19,000, in the country and employment for lower skilled workers would increase by 40,000.

She said strong employment and labour supply growth would keep unemployment at or below 5 per cent in the next three years.