The construction sector led the monthly decline in jobs ads with a 12 percent month-on-month drop in engineering roles. Photo: Unsplash / Abdul Zreika
Job ads fell in most industries and regions last month with a large increase in the number of people applying for work.
The latest BNZ-Seek employment report shows a near 5 percent fall in the number of job ads on the Seek website in May on April, which had a similar level of decline.
The number of ads fell more than 30 percent on a year ago to the lowest level in eight years, outside of the Covid-19 lockdowns.
"It is an incredibly tough labour market at the moment, and Seek data reflects that, with declining ad volumes in most regions and in all sectors," country manager Rob Clark said.
The construction sector led the monthly decline in jobs ads with a 12 percent month-on-month drop in engineering roles.
In contrast, call centre and customer service roles rose 2 percent, while sales roles were up 1 percent.
"We know there have been major cuts to the public sector and in May this was mostly felt outside the major metro regions, with a 7 percent decline in regional public sector roles month-on-month," Clark said.
"Applications per job ad, which measures competition among candidates for vacant roles, did not grow or decline in May and remain exceptionally high," he said.
"This is particularly true for roles in manufacturing, transport and logistics, construction and trades and services."
The number of people applying for each position was up nearly 70 percent on a year ago.