Nine out of the 15 regions recorded reached record-high average salaries in the first quarter of this year.
The Wellington region commanded the highest average salary at $71,825 - an increase of 1.5 per cent.
In Auckland the average salary was up 1.1 per cent - the smallest increase - to $69,546. The Canterbury region rose 5.4 per cent to $66,738 and Waikato was up 5.6 per cent to $67,648.
The Hawke’s Bay took the honours for the largest average salary increase in the North Island, up 6.7 per cent to $66,335.
Salaries are a hot topic as the country battles a cost of living crisis with inflation - currently 7.2 per cent for the December year - the highest in 30 years.
The latest inflation data, for the March quarter, will be released by StatsNZ next Thursday.
Trade Me Jobs sales director Matt Tolich said the jobs market is in pretty good shape considering the macroeconomic conditions at play.
“With a recession on the horizon we would expect job listings to fall and salaries to stagnate as employers face an uncertain outlook. However, the first quarter bucked this trend with more money going into bank accounts on payday.
“These rising salaries are in part a legacy of 2022′s skill shortage, where employers had to lift their game to attract quality workers, along with a reaction to the cost of living crisis, and the increase in the minimum wage.
“And when comparing job listings to the same period in 2019, vacancies were down only 7 per cent, a much smaller drop than we would’ve expected.”
The number of people applying for vacant roles increased with average applications per listing up 83 per cent year-on-year.
Construction and roading saw a 166 per cent uplift in applications in the first quarter of 2023 compared with the same period last year, followed by engineering (up 135 per cent). IT had a 127 per cent rise in average applications.
The hospitality and tourism sector also experienced an 83 per cent surge in applications and a 4 per cent increase in jobs as the country continues its post-Covid recovery.
“The sector is buoyed by a flush of demand for global travel and also the growing number of people on working visas entering the country to fill positions,” Tolich said.
“There’s finally some relief for the businesses who have been crying out for staff. The tourism sector is set to grow even more this year, so we should continue to see a healthy number of opportunities in these areas.”
Jobs in information technology (IT) continue to command the highest salaries out of any sector at an average of $110,000. However, this figure fell from a high of $125,000 last year.
The top average salaried jobs for the quarter were IT - management ($154,564) and IT - project management ($142,983).
“Demand is still high for skilled IT professionals, though it appears there are more people in Aotearoa looking for work with those skills. So, a typical case of supply and demand,” Tolich said.
The highest paying non-IT jobs for the quarter were executive and management ($128,994) and in construction and roading - quantity surveying ($128,350).
Last week the Reserve Bank hiked the Official Cash Rate by more than expected to 5.25 per cent, in a move one economist said would push New Zealand into a recession.
For that to happen there would need to be two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
The economy contracted a worse-than-expected 0.6 per cent in the December quarter, following a rise of 1.7 per cent in the September 2022 quarter.
