The wage figures above are indicative for regional New Zealand, with some adjustments for Hawke's Bay, and will vary between employers in some sectors. The situations vacant ads might be slowly returning but what Hawke's Bay employers are looking for has changed.
While before the recession Bay bosses advertised for general roles, they were now getting a lot more specific with what they needed from the successful applicant, said Ian Beattie, of RIOT Recruitment.
``What we are seeing in these economic times is employers are still employing but they are getting more cautious,'' Mr Beattie said.
``What I meant by that is they are employing for specific tasks rather than general. When you look at Seek, Trade Me and the newspaper listings, you see employers are after specific skill sets.''
Employers could afford to be choosy because the number of people looking for work or a new job was still high.
``There are a strong number of applicants, so employers are able to be quite selective.''
They also had a wider range of applicants to choose from, with many people looking for a career change after their industries, such as real estate and mortgage broking, had suffered in the recession.
Murray Douglas, from the Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce, said the amount of seasonal work available in the region was making it difficult to tell how the job market was.
``But it's nice to see a wider range of jobs starting to appear, ranging from truck drivers to cleaners,'' Mr Douglas said. ``We haven't seen those jobs for about 12 months.''
The health sector was still one that was struggling to fill vacancies.
``But we are nowhere near where we were two year ago when we had to go to Auckland to try and fill jobs.''
He urged businesses to consider paying new employees more if keen to attract the highest calibre and retain them.
``We've got to put our wages up, especially in that productive sector.''
Workers in the regions deserved the higher wages of their city counterparts, because they had to be more multi-skilled.
He gave the example of a lawyer who in the Bay would have to know four types of law to work in a practice but in Auckland would need to specialise only in one.
HB 2010 salary and pay guide: Bosses fussier as they hire
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