The events and hospitality sector had the largest growth in demand for work. File photo. Photo: 123RF
Tight hiring conditions for businesses may be easing, as the number of casual workers applying for shifts outstrips demand.
The inaugural jobs index by the temporary and casual staffing platform Sidekicker shows the number of workers applying for shifts increased by more than 200 percent year-on-year in June.
Meanwhile, the average business posted 46 percent more shifts over the same period.
The index analysed data from more than 2500 workers across the hospitality and events, warehousing, logistics, customer service and administration sectors in Australia and New Zealand.
The events and hospitality sector had the largest growth in demand for work, with the application-to-shift ratio growing almost 200 percent in a year, despite the average business posting 126 percent more shifts compared to last year.
Sidekicker chief executive Thomas Amos. Photo: Supplied
Sidekicker chief executive and co-founder Thomas Amos said the increase in migrant workers was bringing more competition into the labour market.
"With the return of international workers, the volume of registrations from local and international workers reached parity in June 2023 for the first time in Sidekicker's history," he said.
"If we look at our registration mix pre-Covid, local registrations were on average twice that of international workers.
"One of the core drivers of the easing is the continued growth in international registrations, which have grown 600 percent year-on-year.
"By comparison, local registrations have grown 62 percent over the same period."
Amos said New Zealand businesses were requesting, on average, the same amount of casuals as their counterparts in Australia.
Just a year ago, Australian businesses were hiring twice as many casuals.
It comes as new data from Seek NZ shows double-digit growth in applications per job last month, while the national job ad volumes fell for a fourth consecutive month and 26 percent year-on-year.
Seek NZ country manager Rob Clarke said an 8 percent drop in job ads in manufacturing, transport and logistics led the overall decline.
"Job ad volumes are now almost on par with July 2019 levels following a 4 percent fall in July," he said.
"Applications per job ad have been on the rise since April, and are now at their highest level on record.
"In June, there were notable increases in applications per job ad in manufacturing, transport and logistics, community services and development and accounting roles."
However the administration and office support sector was one of the few to record a rise in demand for workers, Clarke said, rising 5 percent.