KEY POINTS:
The labour market remains tight despite a rise in unemployment during the September quarter, according to the latest ANZ job vacancies study.
Unemployment rose from a record low of 3.6 per cent to 3.8 per cent in the September quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand - reducing total employment by 9000 people.
However, the ANZ study showed job advertising grew by 7.5 per cent during the same period, with the latest ANZ job vacancy rate - measuring the level of advertising relative to employment - hitting a high of 10.1 per cent, up from 9.4 per cent in June.
ANZ economist Steve Edwards said employment statistics were assembled from a sample survey and could be quite volatile. "We had two strong quarters in a row ... so September we were expecting a weaker figure ... but when you look at it year-on-year it's still relatively strong."
The rising vacancy rate reflected the tightness of the labour market as employers found it harder to attract the right candidates and the level of job advertising rose faster than employment, the report said.
"It's tight out there and employers have to go down different avenues to try and lure or find the appropriate staff," Edwards said.
"We're hearing it anecdotally and this sort of confirms what we're hearing."
Internet-based job adverts rose 17 per cent but newspapers dropped 2.1 per cent.
