Hawke's Bay jobs market booming, regional unemployment down 2%

Head of Trade Me Jobs Jeremy Wade. Photo / Supplied

Unemployment is down in Hawke's Bay, with new data showing there are hundreds of jobs available, and employers are also willing to boost pay-packets to fill them.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE)'s latest quarterly Jobs Online data, which measures changes in job ads from SEEK, Trade Me Jobs, the Education Gazette and Kiwi Health Jobs, revealed vacancies in Hawke's Bay/Gisborne were up 1.4 per cent.

Head of Trade Me Jobs Jeremy Wade said the number of online job vacancies in Hawke's Bay increased 9.8 per cent on last year with the average wage bumping up 1.8 per cent to $54,820.

"The job market in Hawke's Bay, like the majority of the regions, is continuing to grow strongly, while the main centres slowed in the second quarter of 2018.

"This is being driven by strong growth in the infrastructure sectors particularly, transport & logistics (up 19 per cent), automotive (up 18 per cent), construction & roading (up 61per cent), and engineering (up 70 per cent) year-on-year.

"In addition, the agriculture, fishing & and forestry sector grew 55 per cent and manufacturing and operations jumped up 4 per cent on 2017."

Last week, provisional statistics provided to Hawke's Bay Today by Statistics New Zealand estimated the number of people employed in Hawke's Bay rose by about 5200 between June last year and June this year.

This meant the unemployment rate in Hawke's Bay was now just 4.3 per cent - down from 6.3 per cent in June 2017.

Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce chief executive Wayne Walford said there were a number of drivers behind the region's employment boom.

"I can't pinpoint one area that is driving this fantastic result. To be lower than the national average (4.5 per cent) is awesome. Usually, we are the lead with the highest unemployment figures.

"There are a large number of organisations that are working with youth and business to enable internships and workplace experience to try and connect the right people to the right roles.

"Generally, the region is doing very well economically, house prices are holding and business owners are quietly confident.

"Over the last few years we have seen the arrival of a range of different businesses and business people that I believe are building our resilience."

Walford said the key to maintaining the region's good position would be ensuring the region promoted its success stories.

"Positive stories about the success of the region, promoting each other when it comes to referring and building positive relationships are key to maintaining this position."

Data from seek.co.nz also shows a quarterly rise in the average salary of advertised jobs in Hawke's Bay.

The average salary for advertise job vacancies rose 1.5 per cent, quarter on quarter, to $66,802 a year.

Yesterday, there was 515 job advertisements listed, 190 of them offering salaries of $60,000 and over.