Labour crisis: 'Severe' talent shortage as job candidate numbers fall on both sides of Tasman

Thomas Coughlan sits down with National leader Christopher Luxon to discuss the Reserve Bank and the cost of living crisis. Video / Mark Mitchell

The supply of job candidates seems to have plunged on both sides of the Tasman despite stable demand from companies.

Applicant tracking and recruiting software company JobAdder said its latest report showed the simultaneous impact of The Great Resignation and worsening candidate shortages.

It said overall applications per job for Australia and New Zealand in-house users fell from 19.9 last year to 14.9 in this year's first quarter.

And there was a 68 per cent plunge in applications per job for in-house users compared to figures before the pandemic arrived in 2020.

Generally, new job numbers were relatively stable but with far fewer applications per job.

"Job demand from companies is still high while the supply of candidates measured by applications per job is at all-time lows," JobAdder chief executive Martin Herbst said.

"Our global platform data shows that, despite some macro-economic warning bells, the overall recruitment market remains historically very tight."

He said in New Zealand, the average rate of new jobs for in-house users was lower than Australia, which was understandable given that it was a smaller national economy.

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NZIER principal economist Christina Leung said recent evidence suggested more Kiwis were heading to Australia to pursue lucrative job opportunities.

She said it was now well established that both countries had very tight labour markets.

But she said employment data and recruitment statistics might be playing catch-up with other economic realities.

"The labour market tends to be a lagging marker of economic activity."

Although emigration from New Zealand might exacerbate labour shortages in the short-term, she said net migration from other countries would counter that trend.

"We do still expect a slow recovery in return inflows over the coming 12 months."

Leung said a key issue now was estimating whether rising interest rates would dampen domestic demand, and in turn relieve pressure on the labour market.

Sydney is a magnet for many New Zealanders, and although Australia has a slight edge in some labour market data, job applicant numbers are low in both countries. Photo / Getty

She said several central banks worldwide were aggressively hiking interest rates to reduce demand.

But monetary policy tsars had to ensure any steps taken to counter inflation did not go haywire and spark recession.

And for employers, slashing workforces now could backfire, she said.

"Firms might also be quite mindful of not wanting to reduce headcount, because of how difficult it has been to hire over the past 12 months."

JobAdder said for job agency users across both countries, applications per job in the first quarter of this year fell to 13, down from almost 16 last year.

For Australian in-house users, applications per job fell over the past 12 months.

New Zealand in-house users also had a drop in average applications per job across the last year.

The average number of jobseekers in that sector fell from 16.37 in last year's second quarter to 13.82 in the third quarter and just 10.39 in the fourth quarter.

As with Australia, a temporary uptick happened this year, with a slight increase in the first quarter but a dip in the second quarter.

For New Zealand agency users, a high of 60.88 jobs per account was reported in last year's second quarter, falling to just 50.93 in the fourth quarter.

The average then rose slightly across the first half of this year, hitting 54.66 in the first quarter and 56.47 in the second.

JobAdder adviser and recruitment expert Greg Savage said New Zealand kept Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns after such rules were eased in Australia.

"This may account for small fluctuations in new jobs created, but right now hiring demand in the country is very strong indeed, and talent shortages are severe in many sectors."

Savage said New Zealand had tighter border controls than Australia and the two governments had different approaches to encouraging post-pandemic migration.

"This is making for an exceptionally tight labour market in New Zealand, exacerbated by an outflow of Kiwis looking to enjoy overseas work experiences, which were curtailed by Covid-19 restrictions."

Organisations relying on job boards and LinkedIn only were being left behind, he said.

He added: "Traditional tactics to attract candidates are simply no longer sufficient."