Job market stabilising; Wellington, Southland, Taranaki start to rebound after slump

Job ad volumes were down 8% year on year in May, the slowest rate of decline since November 2022. Photo / 123rf

Hiring activity fell in May but is declining at the slowest rate in over two years as the market stabilises, new data from Seek show.

Annual salary growth also continues to slow.

The Seek Employment Report, released today, showed seasonally adjusted advertised job ads fell 2.2% in May when compared with the previous month.

Job ad volumes were down 8% year on year in May, the slowest rate of decline since November 2022.

“The trend data tells a clear picture and that is one of flat ad volumes for the past eight months,” Seek New Zealand country manager Rob Clark said.

“After close to two years of near uninterrupted decline between 2022 and 2024, this shows that volumes have stabilised and are even beginning to see some pockets of growth.”

Clark said Wellington has recorded broad growth in ad volumes over the past 11 months after being hit hard by falling demand towards the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024.

“[Wellington] was one of only three regions where job ads rose month-on-month, along with Southland and Taranaki,” he said.

Meanwhile, applications per job ad rose 2% in April (a lag month) compared with March.

“While the decline in demand for workers has slowed, candidate appetite has not abated in the same way, rising to the highest on record again this month,” Clark said.

Seek also released its Advertised Salary Index (ASI), which showed growth in advertised salaries for jobs posted on its website slowed to 2.4% in the year to May.

Quarterly growth was 0.6% in the three months to May when compared with February.

“Annual average advertised salary growth continues to slow, despite faster growth in the most recent quarter,” Clark said.

The science and technology sector experienced faster salary growth than other industries with an 8% year-on-year increase.

The fastest quarterly growth was in the real estate and property sector at 2%.

“Around half of all industries are seeing their average advertised salaries growing faster than inflation, which is good news for job seekers in these industries,” Clark said.

Inflation in the March quarter rose to 2.5%, up from 2.2% in the December quarter, according to Stats NZ.