Online vacancies fall in September

Job vacancies advertised online fell in September following an increase in August, according to the latest Jobs Online report from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

The latest results show skilled job vacancies fell by 5.4 percent in September compared to August, and total online job vacancies fell by 4.5 percent.

Skilled job vacancies fell in the main centres, by 5.2 percent in Auckland and 6.0 percent in Wellington, with Canterbury experiencing a modest fall of 1.4 percent.

Despite the fall in September, growth in online job vacancies has been positive over the past year. Skilled job vacancies increased by 3.8 percent and total job vacancies increased by 4.5 percent.

“Although there has been some variation month-to-month, the trend shows that skilled vacancies have been generally increasing. Growth in job vacancies over the past year suggests a modest improvement in the labour market,” says the Ministry’s General Manager of the Labour and Immigration Research Centre, Vasantha Krishnan.

Canterbury continues to show strong growth in skilled vacancies (up by 24 percent) over the last 12 months. The continued strong growth in Canterbury has been driven by the demand for skilled workers in the construction and engineering (up by 60.2 percent) and information technology (up by 35.1 percent) sectors.